LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO. 


BY  REV.  JOSIAH  STRONG,  D.D. 


OUR  COUNTRY :  Its  Possible  Future 
and  its  Present  Crisis.  With  an 
Introduction  by  Prof.  AUSTIN  PHELPS, 
D.D.  160th  Thousand  Revised  Edi- 
tion, based  on  the  Census  of  1890. 
Cloth,  60  cents.  Paper,  30  cents. 

THE    NEW    ERA;   or,  The   Coming 
Kingdom.  30TH  THOUSAND. 

Library  Edition,  crown  8vo,  cloth, 

gilt  top $1.50 

Plain  Cloth,  12mo,  ....        75 
Paper,  12mo, 35 


THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR   CO., 

PUBLISHERS, 
5  &  7  EAST  SIXTEENTH  ST.,     NEW  YORK. 


THE    NEW    ERA 


OB 


THE   COMING   KINGDOM 


KEY.  JOSIAH  ^TKONG,  D.D. 

General  Secretary  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  for  the  United  States  j 
Author  of  "  Our  Country  " 


THIRTIETH  THOUSAND 


"  The  Present  Time— youngest  born  of  Eternity,  child  and  heir  of  all 
the  Past  Times  with  their  good  and  evil,  and  parent  of  all  the  Future— is 
ever  a  '  New  Era'  to  the  thinking  man.  .  .  .  To  know  it,  and  what  it 
bids  us  do,  is  ever  the  sum  of  knowledge  for  all  of  us." 

— THOMAS  CARLYLK. 

"  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  you  may  see  another  stadium  of  history 
advancing.  Its  aim  will  be  to  realize  the  Christianity  of  Christ  him- 
self, which  is  about  to  renew  its  youth  by  taking  to  heart  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  is  saying :  '  Behold,  I 
make  all  things  new.'  This  earth  is  yet  to  be  redeemed,  soul  and  body, 
with  all  its  peoples,  occupations,  and  interests." 

— ROSWELL  D.  HITCHCOCK. 


NEW  YORK 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO. 
5  AND  7  EAST  SIXTEENTH  ST. 


Copyright.  1893, 

BY 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  Co. 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  a  common  observation  that  we  are  living  in  a 
period  of  transition.  Such  periods  are  always  charac- 
terized by  uncertainty  and  anxiety,  by  difficult  prob- 
lems and  by  great  opportunities.  Of  these  we  hear 
much ;  but  I  know  of  no  one  who  has  attempted  to  show 
ivhy  this  is  a  period  of  transition,  or  to  point  out  its  re- 
lations to  the  past  and  future  and  thus  interpret  its 
meaning.  This  volume  is  such  an  attempt.  I  have 
tried  to  lay  hold  of  fundamental  laws  and  principles 
and  to  apply  them  to  the  explanation  of  existing  con- 
ditions and  to  the  solution  of  the  great  problems  of  the 
age. 

The  reader  will  see  that  the  treatment  of  subjects  has 
been  suggestive  rather  than  exhaustive;  to  have  done 
them  full  justice  each  chapter  should  have  been  a  vol- 
ume. 

Considerable  portions  of  addresses  made  before  a 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  for  the  United 
States  in  Boston,  a  meeting  of  the  Canadian  Evangelical 
Alliance  in  Montreal,  a  union  meeting  of  the  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  clubs  of  Minneapolis  and  St. 
Paul,  and  the  International  Convention  of  Christian 
Workers-in  New  York,  have  been  used.  Also,  with  the 
kind  permission  of  editors  or  publishers,  I  have  made 
some  use  of  articles  written  for  the  Review  of  Reviews, 
the  Chautauquan,  Our  Day,  the  New  York  Observer,  the 
Christian  at  Work,  the  Independent,  and  for  a  volume 
entitled  "Parish  Problems,"  published  by  the  Century 
Company. 


vi  PREFACE. 

I  am  indebted  to  Rev.  D.  W.  Waldron  of  Boston,  Dr. 
A.  Ritchie  of  Cincinnati,  Rev.  J.  C.  Armstrong  of  Chi- 
cago, and  Mr.  George  D.  Kellogg  of  St.  Louis  for  infor- 
mation concerning  their  respective  cities ;  and  especially 
to  Mr.  William  E.  Dodge  and  Rev.  Horace  G.  Hoadley 
for  helpful  documents  and  references.  I  desire  also  to 
acknowledge  my  obligations  to  Mr.  Thomas  D.  Seymour 
of  Yale  University,  a  former  fellow-student,  and  to  Dr. 
Carroll  Cutler,  a  former  instructor,  for  kindly  listening 
to  the  reading  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  manu- 
script and  for  the  benefit  of  their  valuable  judgment. 

J.  S. 

NEW  YORK,  June,  189& 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUUY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION. 

The  great  movements  of  the  past  century  prophetic  of  changes 
to  come.  Significant  changes  and  their  meaning.  1.  Physical 
changes,  i.e.,  those  affecting  time  and  space.  Isolation  becoming 
impossible.  Civilization  of  all  peoples  inversely  as  their  isolation. 
2.  Political  changes.  The  growth  of  democracy.  Freedom  re- 
moving the  barriers  of  progress.  3.  Social  changes.  Popular 
discontent.  Interest  in  sociological  questions.  Growth  of  Social- 
ism. The  progress  of  the  race  along  two  lines.  A  tendency 
toward  a  closer  organization  of  society.  Evidences  of  reaction  in 
that  direction.  Thinkers  expectant  of  great  social  changes. 
Revolution  or  evolution.  4.  Changes  of  which  the  progress  of 
science  is  prophetic.  Science  a  divine  revelation.  Progress  of 
science  fatal  to  credulity  and  superstition.  Influence  on  heathen- 
ism. Changes  among  heathen  and  Mohammedan  peoples.  Japan, 
China,  India,  Turkey,  Africa.  During  this  century  800,000,000 
heathen  brought  within  reach  of  modern  and  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. A  preparation  for  missionary  triumphs.  Interpretation  of 
the  great  changes  of  the  century.  P.  1. 

CHAPTER    II. 
THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE. 

The  race  as  yet  in  an  early  stage  of  development.  Unity  in 
diversity  the  fundamental  law  of  the  universe.  Illustrated  in 
nature.  Applied  to  history.  The  perfect  development  of  the  in- 
dividual (diversity)  and  the  perfect  organization  of  society  (unity) 
the  divine  ideal  for  the  race.  The  ultimate  perfection  of  humanity 

vii 


vni  CONTENTS. 

confirmed  by  man's  constitution,  by  Revelation,  by  history,  by 
science. 

Progress  toward  a  perfected  society  to  be  much  more  rapid  it 
future.  Tendency  to  sacrifice  the  development  of  the  individual 
to  the  organization  of  society,  or  vice  versa.  The  former  charac- 
terizes the  civilizations  of  Asia,  the  latter  those  of  Europe. 
China  and  Greece.  Same  tendency  in  religion.  Romanism  and 
Protestantism.  The  development  of  the  individual  and  the  or- 
ganization of  society  not  conflicting  but  correlative.  Now,  for  the 
first  time,  conditions  favorable  to  the  one  are  favorable  to  the 
other,  hence  unprecedented  progress. 

Time  has  come  for  men  to  aid  the  development  of  these  two 
principles  intelligently.  Development  of  individual  must  be  har- 
monious. Dignity  and  worth  of  the  body.  Depreciation  of  the 
body  among  Christians.  Christian  civilization  preserves  defec- 
tive classes.  Cultivation  reduces  fecundity.  The  New  England 
stock  "dying  out."  The  survival  of  the  unfittest.  The  remedy. 
The  more  perfect  organization  of  society.  This  also  must  be 
harmonious.  The  physical.  The  intellectual.  The  spiritual. 
The  final  unity  in  diversity.  P.  17. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF 
ANTIQUITY. 

Preparation  of  the  world  for  the  inauguration  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Threefold — physical,  intellectual,  spiritual. 

Spiritual  preparation  by  the  Hebrew.  Monotheism  the  ger- 
minal principle  of  the  nation.  Meaning  of  Egyptian  bondage. 
Occupation.  Exclusiveness.  Spirit  of  the  nation.  Captivity. 
Conception  of  Jehovah.  Compared  with  that  of  surrounding 
peoples.  Dispersion.  A  prepared  soil  for  the  seed  of  Christianity. 

Intellectual  preparation  by  the  Greeks.  Their  home.  Coast- 
line. Mountain  system.  Mixed  origin  of  tribes.  Climate.  Open- 
air  life.  Love  of  the  beautiful.  Perfection  of  language.  Cen- 
trifugal tendency.  Dissemination  6"f  language. 

Physical  preparation  by  the  Romans.  Universal  empire. 
Roads.  Lines  of  preparation  centred  in  Judaea. 

Further  preparation.  Three  great  failures.  The  Hebrews 
and  ritualism.  The  Greeks  and  culture.  The  Romans  and  law. 


CONTENTS.  ix 

Essential  difference  between  morality  and   true  religion.     The 
"  fulness  of  time."    P.  41. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON 

The  qualities  which  made  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Romans 
supreme  in  their  respective  spheres  all  unite  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race. 

Religious  life.  Missionary  ardor.  Representation  of  races  at 
World's  Missionary  Conference,  London,  1888.  As  the  Hebrew 
carried  his  pure  monotheism  around  the  Mediterranean,  so  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  carrying  a  spiritual  Christianity  around  the  world. 

Intellectual  life.  English  literature.  Statesmanship.  Lan- 
guage. Schaff,  Candolle,  Weisse,  and  Grimm  quoted.  Tables 
showing  progress  of  English  language.  Causes  of  rapid  exten- 
sion. As  the  Greek  carried  his  language  and  civilization  around 
the  Mediterranean,  so  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  carrying  his  around  the 
world. 

Mastery  of  physical  conditions.  Inventive  power.  Control  of 
the  world's  communications.  Wealth.  Growth  of  Anglo-Saxon 
race.  Its  extension.  Superiority  of  Anglo-Saxon  empire  to 
Roman. 

This  race  unites  the  individualism  of  the  Greeks  with  the  or- 
ganizing genius  of  the  Romans.  Union  of  culture  and  religion. 
The  three  essential  elements  of  a  perfect  civilization,  each  in  an 
eminent  degree,  unite  in  Anglo-Saxon  civilization. 

The  home  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  compared  with  those  of  the 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Roman.  Necessity  of  adequate  physical  basis 
for  national  greatness  in  the  future.  The  United  States  a  hun- 
dred years  hence.  We  co-ordinate  the  two  principles  of  individ- 
ualism and  organization  in  their  application  to  government  better 
than  any  other  people.  Conditions  more  favorable  here  than  else- 
where for  solving  social  problems.  Interpretation  of  these  facts. 
Corollaries.  P.  52. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER. 

If  the  character  and  life  presented  in  the  Gospels  are  genuine, 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  are  authoritative.  Those  who  reject  their 


x  CONTENTS. 

genuineness  must  accept  (T.)  tbe  theory  of  legend  or  myth  or  (II.) 
that  of  invention  to  deceive. 

I.  Theory  of  mythical  additions  to  the  truth.     Christ's  age  too 
narrow   to   have  conceived  of   such   breadth  of  character.     His 
breadth   illustrated   by   his  tolerance,  love,  estimate  of  human 
nature,  respect  for  the  poor.     Elevation  of  this  character.     Teach- 
ings so  spiritual  as  to  be  incomprehensible  to  the  Jews.     Conquer- 
ing his  kingdom  by  the  CKOSS.     Dignity  of  service.     Teachings 
which  anticipate  the  ripest  conclusions  of  modern  social  science. 
Jesus  in  conflict  with  the  ideas  of  his  time.     Distasteful  ideas  do 
not  grow  into  legends  which  gain  currency  as  true.     Mythical 
theory  cannot  account  for  the  unity  of  Christ's  character.     Four 
undisputed  letters  of  Paul  assume  the  same  character  and  present 
the  fundamental  facts  found  in  the  Gospels;  these  letters  too  early 
to  allow  time  for  the  growth  of  myths. 

II.  Theory  of  invention  with  intention  to  deceive.     Supposed 
deception  must  have  been  intended  for  the  Jews.     Why  do  vio- 
lence to  the  Jewi.sh  conception  of  the  Messiah  ?    Claims  of  Jesus. 
Must  invent  a  character  and  life  that  would  sustain  these  claims. 

1.  Invention  of  a  divine-human  character.     A  new  conception 
of  God.     A  perfect  man.     A  generic  character.     No  mind  in  the 
first  century  broad  enough  to  conceive  of  a  generic  man.     The 
character  unites  diverse  excellences  into  a  harmonious  whole. 

2.  Invention  of  a  divine  human  life.     The  character  not  de- 
scribed, but  depicted  by  what  Jesus  says  and  does.     5fot  simply 
truth  uttered,  but  applied  to  life  and  in  action.     Anomalies. 

The  supposition  that  such  a  life  and  character  could  be  in- 
vented involves  absurdities.  The  most  perfect  system  of  ethics 
in  the  interest  of  the  most  gigantic  fraud.  A  deliberate  falsifier 
with  an  unimpaired  moral  sense.  An  unscrupulous  liar  with  an 
unsullied  soul.  J.  S.  Mill  and  Goethe  quoted.  Jesus  not  to  be 
accounted  for  on  any  natural  basis.  The  common  verdict. 
Keshub  Chunder  Sen  and  Mozoomdar  quoted. 

The  widening  influence  of  Jesus.  Service  rendered  by  Strauss. 
The  nearer  vision  of  Christ  is  the  timing  of  Providence  that  the 
new  era  may  be  the  fuller  coming  of  his  kingdom.  P.  81. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS. 

Man  sustains  relations  to  God  and  to  his  fellow  men  ;  hence 
the  two  lines  of  progress,  already  traced,  along  which  civilization 


CONTENTS.  xi 

moves.     Two  principles  apparently  in  conflict.     Christ   co  ordi 
nates  them  by  love.     The  two  great  laws. 

I.  Obedience  to  the  first  law  saves  the  individual.     Love  the 
antidote  of  selfishness.     The  first   law  the   more   fundamental. 
Society  cannot  be  saved  until  its  units  are  saved.      The  two  great, 
factors  of  the  social  problem.     The  more  important  commonly 
neglected. 

Love  makes  man  free  under  law.  No  virtue  without  freedom. 
No  order  without  law.  Love  unites  obedience  and  freedom. 

Perfect  obedience  to  the  first  law  would  lead  to  a  true  and  perfect 
individualism.  This  the  harmony  between  religion  and  culture. 

II.  Obedience  to  the  second  law  would  save  society.     Intended 
to  control  social  organization.     Herbert  Spencer.     A  seeming  dis- 
crepancy.    The  law  of  normal  society,  and  the  remedial  law. 
The  church  has  ignored  the  former. 

Consequences  of  the  failure  of  the  church  to  teach  and  practise 
the  second  great  law.  Has  divided  life  into  "  sacred  "  and  "  secu- 
lar." Has  divorced  doctrine  and  conduct.  Has  separated  relig- 
ion and  philanthropy.  Has  alienated  the  masses.  Has  resulted 
in  a  selfish  individualism  and  an  unchristian  organization  of 
society.  Men  seeking  a  brotherhood.  Neglected  truth  appears 
in  caricatured  form. 

Neglect  of  the  science  of  society  by  the  church.  Social  re- 
formers have  rejected  the  first  law  while  the  church  has  neglected 
the  second. 

This  the  sociological  age.  Each  age  of  the  Christian  era 
characterized  by  a  germinal  idea.  Four  great  periods  in  the 
progress  of  doctrine.  We  are  living  in  the  fourth.  The  key  to 
all  great  movements  during  the  last  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years.  The  teachings  of  Christ  have  been  decisive  in  the  think- 
ing of  the  three  preceding  periods  and  will  be  in  that  of  the 
fourth.  Great  changes  to  be  expected  in  existing  social  system. 
The  opportunity  of  the  church.  P.  114. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

POPULAR  DISCONTENT. 

Extent  of  popular  discontent.     American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Granges,  Farmers'  Alliances,  etc.     Labor  riots. 

I.  Causes  of  discontent.     Improvement  in  condition  of  work- 


xn  CONTENTS. 

ing  class.     Wells,  Mulliall,  and  Giffen  quoted.      The  problem 
has  two  factors. 

1.  Change   in   workingtuen.       Increased    intelligence.       The 
application  of  steam  to  the  printing-press.       Increased  travel. 
The  modern  crusade.     Reactionary  policy  of  Russia.     A  democ- 
racy cannot  turn  back. 

2.  Change   in   circumstances.      Profound   economic  changes. 
Industry,  once  individual,  now  organized.     A  world  organization 
the  last  stage.     New  methods  of  production  ;  distribution.     The 
world  one  country.     A  world  life. 

The  workingnian  a  victim  of  a  selfish  system.  "Hunting  for 
a  job."  Believes  that  he  is  not  sharing  equitably  the  general 
prosperity.  Has  he  had  "nearly  all  the  benefit  of  the  great 
material  progress  of  the  last  fifty  years  "  ?  The  real  question. 
Is  the  existing  division  of  property  between  capital  and  labor 
just  ?  The  coming  billionaire.  Sharp  contrasts. 

The  complaint  of  the  farmer.  Decline  in  value  of  agricultural 
lands.  Causes.  Discontent  will  not  be  temporary.  Causes  ope- 
rative for  many  years  to  come. 

II.  Significance  of  popular  discontent.  Means  more  than  in 
any  other  age  :  because  of  popular  intelligence  ;  because  of  more 
tender  sensibilities ;  because  of  the  close  relations  of  classes  ; 
because  the  people  rule. 

Discontent  indicates  a  progressive  civilization.  Popular 
ferment  means  a  struggle  to  realize  the  possibilities  of  a  new  and 
larger  life,  A  new  evolution  of  civilization.  P.  135. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  PROBLEM  OP  THE  COUNTRY. 

The  movement  of  population  from  county  to  city.  Closely  con- 
nected with  the  depression  in  agriculture.  Abandoned  farms  :  in 
New  Hampshire  ;  in  Vermont ;  in  New  York.  This  movement 
remarkably  general.  Number  of  townships  in  United  States 
which  suffered  depletion  between  1880  and  1890. 

Results  of  this  movement.  Investigations  in  rural  districts. 
1.  Roads  deteriorate.  2.  Property  depreciates.  3.  Churches 
weakened  and  schools  impaired.  4.  Exchange  of  native  for  for- 
eign stock.  5.  Isolation  and  resulting  tendency  towards  degen- 
eration. 

Is  this  movement  temporary  ?    A  world  movement.     England. 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

Germany.  France.  Japan.  The  tendency  as  old  as  human 
nature.  The  law  of  the  growth  of  cities.  Reasons  why  this  ten- 
dency has  become  much  more  operative  in  modern  times.  Three 
causes  of  this  movement,  all  of  which  are  permanent. 

The  degeneration  of  the  rural  population  will  mean  the  later 
degeneration  of  the  urban  population  also.  P.  164. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY. 

Lieber  and  De  Tocqueville  on  the  problem  of  the  city.  Two 
principal  factors  in  the  problem. 

I.  Municipal  government.     The   "  boss."     Vicious    political 
partisanship.     Foreigners'  ^otes  cast  in  blocks.     Large  foreign 
element.     Absence  from  the  polls. 

Burden  of  debt  and  taxation.  Increase  of  municipal  debt  of 
New  York.  Boston  compared  with  Birmingham,  Eng.  Ineffi- 
cient service.  Public  health.  Public  schools.  Official  complic- 
ity with  vice.  Mr.  Bryce  and  Mr.  A.  D.  White  quoted  on  failure 
of  our  municipal  government. 

Significance  of  this  failure.  Our  social  structure  weakest 
where  strain  is  greatest.  One  of  the  two  fundamental  principles 
of  our  government  at  stake.  The  state  now  limits  the  autonomy 
of  the  city.  Movement  of  population  from  country  to  city  will 
soon  give  the  cities  control  of  states  and  nation.  What  if  the 
cities  are  incapable  of  self-government  then?  1920. 

II.  City  evangelization.     1.  The  composition  of  the  city.     Seg- 
regation of  foreigners.     2.  Environment.     The  slums.     General 
Booth  and  Professor  Huxley  quoted.     3.  Isolation.     Little  or  no 
sense  of  neighborhood.     Social,  geographical,  linguistic,   racial, 
and  religious  causes  of  separation.     4.  Lack  of  homes.     Evil  re- 
sults of  renting.     5.  Rapid  growth.     Illustrations. 

Relative  increase  of  churches  and  population  of  cities.  Rela- 
tive increase  of  church-members  and  population  of  cities. 
Churches  unevenly  distributed  in  the  city.  New  York,  Boston. 
Cleveland. 

The  outcome  of  existing  tendencies.  One  of  three  things.  The 
churches  will  awake.  The  city  to  be  redeemed.  P.  178. 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE  MASSES  FROM  THE  CHUKCH. 

The  fact  of  separation.  The  fact  that  the  churches  are  gain- 
ing  on  the  population  no  evidence  against  such  separation. 
Less  than  half  the  people  profess  to  attend  church.  Vermont. 
Maine.  New  York.  The  South.  The  West.  Means  of  esti- 
mating non-church-goers  where  canvass  has  not  been  made. 

Generally  workingmen  and  farmers  on  whom  the  churches 
have  lost  their  hold.  Situation  much  the  same  in  England. 

Causes.  1.  Ideas  of  duty  less  strict  than  formerly.  2.  Conti- 
nental ideas  of  the  Sabbath.  3.  Rush  of  modern  life.  4.  Rivals 
of  the  pulpit.  5.  "The  Sunday-school  the  children's  church." 
6.  Nomadic  habits  of  life.  7.  Lay  inactivity  ;  pastors'  hands 
full.  8.  Ownership  of  church  pews.  9.  Church  dress.  10.  In- 
difference both  of  church-goers  and  non-church-goers.  11.  "To- 
tal depravity."  None  of  these  causes  the  cause,  viz.,  the  fact  that 
the  churches  have  failed  to  teach  and  to  exemplify  the  gospel  of 
human  brotherhood. 

Christian  work  has  become  largely  institutional  instead  of  per- 
sonal, and,  therefore,  largely  mechanical  instead  of  vital.  Self- 
giving  the  proof  of  love.  Church  habits  and  methods  signally 
fail  to  manifest  a  personal  love  for  non-church-goers. 

Significance  of  this  separation.  The  discontented  class  and 
the  non-church-going  class  substantially  the  same.  It  is  the 
masses  who  are  discontented ;  the  masses  who  rule ;  the  masses 
on  whom  the  church  has  lost  her  hold.  P.  203. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHTTKCH. 

A  vicious  dualism,  the  "sacred"  and  the  "secular."  The 
church  accepts  the  "sacred"  as  her  sphere.  Were  thirty  of 
Christ's  years  "secular"  and  only  three  "sacred"?  His  teach- 
ing. His  example,  All  things  sacred  or  unholy.  God's  kingdom 
one.  Importance  of  the  physical.  Natural  laws  expressions  of 
the  divine  will.  They  are  laws  of  the  Kingdom.  All  of  God's 
laws  will  be  obeyed  when  his  will  is  "done  OD  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven." 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Christ's  teaching  concerning  the  Kingdom.  He  came  to  found 
it.  The  church  Christ's  body.  Office  of  body  to  execute  the  will 
of  the  head.  Mission  of  the  church  to  extend  the  Kingdom  until 
it  fills  the  earth.  The  church,  therefore,  concerned  with  every- 
thing  that  concerns  man's  well-being. 

Relation  of  church  and  state.  Distinction  between  sphere  and 
function.  The  spliere  of  the  church  as  wide  as  that  of  conscience. 
The  church  the  conscience  of  the  social  organism. 

The  church  has  not  yet  grasped  the  true  idea  of  her  mission. 
A  thousand  organizations,  therefore,  have  sprung  up  to  do  hei 
work.  Illustrations.  The  most  serious  question  of  the  times. 
The  most  dangerous  scepticism. 

Results  that  would  attend  the  acceptance  of  her  entire  mission 
by  the  church.  1.  A  new  and  unconquerable  courage.  2.  Would 
become  the  champion  of  needed  reforms.  3.  Institutional 
methods  of  church  work.  4.  Would  serve  to  spiritualize  the 
"secular."  5.  A  fuller  consciousness  of  God.  6.  Would  soon 
gain  the  masses.  7.  Those  also  with  high  ideals  who  have  lost 
confidence  in  the  church  because  she  is  doing  so  little  for  social 
regeneration.  P.  222. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS. 

The  triumphs  of  invention  are  triumphs  of  method.  Mistake 
of  overrating  or  underrating  method.  An  age  of  improvement  in 
methods.  Church  methods  judged  by  results.  Spiritual  and 
natural  husbandry.  An  increase  of  one-twentieth  part  of  one 
fold.  Non-Christians  on  the  increase  in  the  world.  The  United 
States. 

Changed  conditions  demand  new  methods.  Past  methods  will 
not  sustain  the  past  rate  of  growth.  A  profound  change  taking 
place  in  civilization.  Christianity  adapts  itself  to  such  changes. 
Has  already  passed  through  three  great  transitional  periods. 
Character  of  the  transition  about  to  be  made. 

When  the  church  accepts  her  social  mission,  she  will  find  new 
methods  imperative.  New  methods  to  be  developed  by  the  appli- 
cation of  two  fundamental  principles. 

1.  Recognition  and  use  of  personality.  A  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  needed.  The  good  Samaritan.  "To  every  man 


xv  CONTENTS. 

his  work."  Must  recognize  the  personality  of  those  we  would 
help.  Crime.  Pauperism.  Municipal  government.  The  saloon. 
The  home.  Individual  work  for  individuals.  Octavia  Hill 
quoted.  Lay  activity. 

2.  Organization.  General  lay  activity  would  necessitate  or- 
ganization. Competition.  Christ's  method.  Two.  examples  of 
the  application  of  these  two  principles.  The  Salvation  Army. 
The  opportunity  of  the  church.  P.  252. 


CHAPTER 

THE  NECESSITY   OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT. 

The  existence  of  classes  in  America.  Their  separation.  Such 
separation  Judaic.  Moses  and  Christ.  Negative  and  positive 
goodness.  Sins  of  omission  the  ground  of  final  condemnation. 
God's  desire  to  reveal  himself.  Man  the  best  medium.  Gelations 
to  God  personal.  God's  knowledge,  requirements,  love,  redemp- 
tion, judgment,  all  personal.  The  problem  of  evangelization  to 
bring  men  into  right  personal  relations  with  God.  Personal  per- 
suasion the  most  effective.  The  personal  element  the  great  power 
in  all  redemptive  work.  This  power  largely  lost  by  the  church. 
We  work  through  institutions  and  the  clergy.  False  distinctions 
between  clergy  and  laity.  A  kingdom  of  priests.  All  disciples 
to  disciple.  The  great  commission.  Lack  of  spiritual  communi- 
cation. 

1.  Personal  intercourse  needed  by  the  church.     For  spiritual 
health.     For  training.     For  the  accomplishment  of  her  social  mis- 
sion.    Personal  contact  will  afford  knowledge  and  arouse  interest. 
Much    suffering    unrelieved  because    unknown.      Illustrations. 
Significance  of  such  facts.     Ignorance  does  not  excuse. 

2.  Personal   intercourse  needed   by  non-church-goers.      The 
world  dying  of  selfishness.     Love  the  remedy.     Sacrifice  the  ex- 
pression of  love.     Self  giving  the  only  unmistakable  evidence  of 
sacrifice.     Such  evidence  lacking  in  the  average  church-member. 
Self-giving  essential  to  Christianity.     The  masses  can  be  made  to 
believe  in  the  church  only  by  the  self-giving  of  its  members. 

The  poor  rich.  Duty  of  the  church  to  them.  Can  be  reached 
by  personal  work. 

Scepticism  can  be  dissipated  by  self-giving.  Unbelief  de- 
mands supernatural  evidence  for  a  supernatural  religion.  Spirit- 
ual miracles.  Raising  of  dead  souls  to  life. 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

Self-giving  only  can  solve  the  problem  of  pauperism.  Harm 
of  indiscriminate  charity.  What  the  pauper  needs  cannot  be 
supplied  by  money.  "  Considering  "  the  poor. 

The  work  of  leavening  the  community  too  vast  for  the  clergy. 
The  necessity  for  personal  contact  is  an  imperative  necessity  for 
lay  activity.  P.  271. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION. 

The  centripetal  tendency  of  the  times.  Illustrated  by  railway 
consolidation.  Resisted  by  the  churches.  Reasons  for  co  opera- 
tion. 

1.  To  stop  competition.     Too  many  churches  in  small  towns. 
Character  and   influence  of    churches   injured    by  competition. 
Modifies    tone    of    preaching.      Induces    catering    to    the    rich. 
Churches  lose  sight  of  their  real  object.     Intensifies  sectarianism. 
"  Every  church  for  itself."    Congestion  of  churches. 

2.  Necessary  to  the  best  economy  of  existing  resources.     Pres- 
ent waste.     Denominations   work    with   little   reference   to  each 
other.     One  minister  to  a  township.     The  largest  denomination 
could  not  supply  one  half  the  townships  in  the  United  States. 
The  largest  denomination  only  one  sixth  of  the  Protestant  forces. 
Absurdity  of  the  common  policy.     Illustrations  of  waste.     "We 
are  not  divided. "    Co-operation  in  the  community.    Experience  of 
Ex-President  McCosh. 

3.  Necessary  to  develop  the  latent  forces  of  the  church.     Or- 
ganization discredits  the  multiplication-table.     Cumulative  effect 
of  co-operation.     A  Christian  mob.     Sin  organizing.     A  "  bur- 
glar's  trust."    Difference  need  not   prevent  co-operation;    may 
facilitate  it.     Different  sects  need  each  other.     The  perils  which 
beset  civilization  should  force  us  together.     The  Greeks.     Criini 
nal  waste.     Mr   Edison. 

4.  Necessarv  that  the  church  may  fulfil  her  social  mission. 
The  church  and  reforms.     Keform  by  educating  public  opinion. 
Dr.  Thomas  Arnold.     The  churches  touching  the  entire  life  of 
the  community.     Effect  on  public  opinion.     The  temperance  re- 
form.    How  prosecuted.     Distribution  of  wholesome  literature. 

Co-operation  as  a  means  of  expressing  public  opinion.  The 
church  should  become  the  controlling  conscience  of  the  social 
organism. 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

What  form  of  co-operation  ?  Denominational  federation.  Ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages.  Federation  of  the  local  churches. 
County  and  state  organizations. 

The  churches  liable  to  lose  their  opportunity  of  leadership  in 
social  reforms.  Necessity  of  a  common  centre. 

5.  A  necessary  step  toward  organic  union.  The  greatest  ob- 
stacle to  union.  Confidence  must  be  established  by  acquaintance. 
Acquaintance  will  result  from  co-operation.  Churches  which  can- 
not co-operate  are  incapable  of  organic  union.  The  best  field  for 
co-operation  is  that  of  applied  Christianity.  Close  relations  of 
local  churches. 

Will  the  churches  discern  the  signs  of  the  times?    P.  296. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES  APPLIED  TO  THE  TWO  GREAT 
PROBLEMS. 

An  organization  representing  the  collective  church  of  the  com- 
munity. Its  objects  :  1.  To  afford  a  point  of  contact  for  the 
churches.  2.  To  promote  fellowship.  3.  To  foster  co-operation. 
4.  To  cultivate  a  broader  idea  of  the  mission  of  the  church.  5. 
To  afford  a  means  of  crystallizing  and  expressing  the  public  sen- 
timent  of  the  churches. 

Another  form  of  organization.  An  annual  canvass.  The 
church  visiting  committee. 

A  third  form  of  organization  distinguished  by  systematic  visi- 
tation. Difference  between  the  canvasser  and  the  visitor. 

The  two  great  principles  applied  more  specifically  to — 

I.  The  problem  of  the  country.     County  organizations  needed. 
Without  county  co-operation  the  greatest  burdens  rest   on   the 
weakest  churches.     County  missionaries.     Fellowship  meetings. 
Loan  libraries.      The   Andover  Band    of  Maine.      Institutional 
methods  of  church  work  in  the  country.     Co-operation  as  applied 
to  the  country  school.     Co-operation  and  better  roads. 

The  evil  of  too  many  churches.  A  heroic  remedy  needed. 
An  interdenominational  state  commission  might  designate  the 
churches  which  should  disband.  Home-missionary  aid  withdrawn 
from  churches  so  designated  would  be  decisive. 

II.  The  problem  of  the  city.     1 .  Municipal  government.     Re- 
lying on  mechanical  means  to  prevent  fraud.    Mechanism  not  a 


CONTENTS,  xix 

substitute  for  morals.  Remedy  must  be  found  in  wen.  Munici- 
pal elections  must  be  emancipated  from  politics.  Co-operation  of 
good  citizens.  2.  The  peculiar  difficulties  of  city  evangelization 
and  the  two  great  principles.  Two  cities  in  one.  The  residence 
portion  ;  the  business  portion.  Difference  of  treatment  required. 
For  the  business  and  tenement  portion  the  methods  of  the  McAll 
Mission  and  of  the  institutional  church.  Wide  difference  be- 
tween these  methods  and  those  commonly  in  use.  Marvels 
wrought  by  the  McAll  Mission.  How  to  provide  down-town  dis- 
tricts with  institutional  churches.  The  city  missionary  society. 
House-to-house  visitation.  Trained  visitors,  nurses,  and  kinder- 
garteners. Deaconesses ;  a  training-school  and  home  for  them. 
Dr.  Chalmers's  work  in  Edinburgh.  P.  318. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY. 

The  sense  of  humanity.  The  oneness  of  the  race.  The  age  of 
homespun.  The  influence  of  industrial  changes.  Illustrations. 

The  race  united  in  its  succeeding  generations.  Heredity.  Mar- 
garet, the  mother  of  criminals.  A  new  sense  in  which  the  race  is 
becoming  one.  An  enlightened  selfishness  compels  us  to  care  for 
others.  The  higher  social  organization  of  the  future  demands  a 
nobler  bond.  An  enthusiasm  for  humanity. 

A  recapitulation  shows  that  the  church  must  make  ^he  King- 
dom  the  object  of  endeavor,  and  enter  on  the  work  with  a  burning 
enthusiam. 

How  is  such  enthusiasm  to  be  kindled  and  sustained  ? 

The  enthusiasm  for  humanity  shown  by  the  early  Christians 
was  kindled  by  a  new  valuation  of  human  nature.  By  the  revel- 
ation of  human  nature  seen  in  Christ.  By  the  teaching  that  de- 
based human  nature  was  savable.  By  the  passion  of  love  which 
they  fe'.t  for  Christ.  By  the  revelation  of  the  brotherhood  of  the 
race,  and  the  preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

All  of  these  sources  of  enthusiasm  save  one  opened  afresh  in 
modern  times.  Special  reasons  why  this  generation  should  show 
an  enthusiasm  for  humanity.  Anglo-Saxons.  Americans.  Need 
of  divine  quickening.  Conviction  on  fire.  Judson. 

An  enthusiasm  for  humanity  would  move  the  American  church 
to  discharge  her  duty  to  China  and  Africa, 


xx  CONTENTS. 

Would  make  active  the  latent  power  of  the  church. 

Would  lead  the  church  to  see  and  accept  her  social  mission. 

Would  bridge  the  chasm  between  the  church  and  the  masses 
Would  also  bridge  the  social  chasm. 

Would  overcome  difficulties  and  successfully  apply  the  two 
great  principles  discussed. 

Would  make  the  discovery  that  consecration  to  God  means  ser- 
vice to  man. 

Would  inspire  sacrifice.     P.  342. 


THE  NEW  ERA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  ONE   OF   PREPARATION 

WE  are  entering  on  a  new  era  of  which  the  twentieth 
century  will  be  the  beginning  and  for  which  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  been  a  preparation. 

The  great  movements  and  events  which  mark  the 
centuries  have  very  commonly  come  to  a  definite  close, 
as  did  the  Crusades  and  the  French  Revolution. 
Though  their  results  may  be  lasting,  they  are  the  re- 
sults of  spent  forces.  But  the  great  movements  which 
characterize  the  nineteenth  century  generally  suggest, 
not  finality  or  completeness,  but  rather  beginnings. 
Many  and  great  as  have  been  the  changes  of  this  cen- 
tury, there  is  reason  to  expect  that  those  of  the  next 
will  be  even  more  and  greater.  It  is  not  proposed  to 
call  on  the  imagination  to  anticipate  them.  This  work 
is  not  speculative.  It  does,  however,  attempt  to  trace 
some  of  the  general  lines  of  development  in  the  past,  to 
note  their  present  trend,  and,  within  certain  limits,  to 
project  them  into  the  future.  It  is  quite  true,  as  Lowell 
remarks,  that  "the  course  of  events  is  apt  to  show  it- 
self humorously  careless  of  the  reputation  of  prophets." 
But  surely  one  may  study  discerningly  the  signs  of  the 
times,  which  are  only  the  shadows  of  coming  events 
cast  before,  without  attempting  the  prophetic  role. 


THE  NEW  ERA. 

If  events  were  simply  strung  together  in  orderly 
fashion  on  the  thread  of  time,  like  beads  on  a  string, 
without  any  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  there  could  be 
no  signs  of  the  times.  But  because  to-morrow  is  folded 
within  to-day,  because  human  nature  and  its  develop- 
ment are  under  laws  which  remain  constant  from  age 
to  age,  because,  as  Carlyle  says,  "  the  centuries  are  all 
lineal  children  of  one  another'1  and  bound  by  the  law 
of  heredity  like  other  offspring,  it  becomes  possible,  in 
a  measure,  to  forecast  coming  events,  to  draw  from  the 
study  of  past  experiences  and  present  conditions  rea- 
sonable inferences  concerning  the  future. 

Let  us  glance  hastily  at  some  of  the  more  significant 
changes  which  have  taken  place  during  the  past  cen- 
tury and  note  their  meaning. 

1st.  Changes  which  may  be  called  physical.  There  is 
nothing  more  fundamental  touching  the  circumstances 
which  affect  all  human  beings  than  time  and  space. 
They  condition  all  human  activities  and  relationships, 
and  hence  to  change  them  is  to  affect  all  human  activi- 
ties and  relationships.  This  is  the  reason  that  steam 
and  electricity  have  had  so  profound  an  influence  on 
modern  civilization.  They  have  materially  changed 
these  two  great  factors  that  enter  into  all  lives.  It  is  as 
if  the  earth  had  been,  in  two  or  three  generations,  re- 
duced to  a  much  smaller  scale  and  set  spinning  on  its 
axis  at  a  far  greater  speed.  As  a  result,  men  have  been 
brought  into  much  closer  relations  and  the  world's  rate 
of  progress  has  been  wonderfully  quickened.  Time- 
saving  methods  and  appliances  now  crowd  into  a  day 
business  which  a  generation  ago  would  have  occupied  a 
week  or  more.  The  passage  of  the  Atlantic  which  once 
required  weeks  is  now  a  matter  of  days.  It  is  possible 
to  be  in  the  United  States  one  week  and  before  the  close 
of  the  next  in  Asia.  A  little  time  suffices  to  compass 
great  events  as  well  as  great  distances.  We  read  of  the 
' '  Thirty  Years'  War ' '  in  the  seventeenth  century ;  the 
Franco-Prussian  war,  which  destroyed  one  empire  and 
created  another,  was  begun  and  practically  ended  in 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.          3 

thirty  days.1  By  reason  of  the  increased  ease  of  com- 
munication new  ideas  are  more  speedily  popularized, 
public  opinion  more  quickly  formed  and  more  readily 
expressed ;  both  thought  and  action  are  stimulated ;  re- 
forms are  sooner  accomplished,  and  great  changes  of 
every  sort  are  crowded  into  as  many  years  as  once  they 
would  have  required  generations  or  even  centuries. 

And  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  quickening 
processes  are  not  yet  completed  or  their  results  fully 
apparent.  Science  is  daily  making  easier  the  conquest 
of  space;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  vic- 
tories of  electricity  are  only  well  begun. 

Thus  these  changing  physical  conditions  will  continue 
to  render  the  isolation  of  any  people  increasingly  diffi- 
cult— a  fact  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  world's 
progress,  for  isolation  results  in  stagnation,  and  we 
accordingly  find  that  the  civilization  of  all  peoples  is 
inversely  as  their  isolation.  The  conformation  of 
Europe  and  the  exceeding  irregularity  of  her  coast-line 
are  favorable  to  the  intercourse  of  her  various  nations 
with  each  other  and  the  world,  and  Europe  has  de- 
veloped the  highest  civilization.  Moreover  those  of  her 
peoples  who  are  most  favorably  located  for  intercourse 
with  their  neighbors  have  made  the  most  progress. 
The  great  mountain  ranges  of  Asia,  her  vast  plains,  to- 
gether with  oceans  so  broad  as  to  discourage  the  timid 
navigators  of  earlier  centuries  are  much  less  favorable 
to  intercourse,  and  the  civilization  of  Asia  is  much 
lower  than  that  of  Europe.  That  part  of  Africa  which 
lies  on  the  Mediterranean  has  been  in  contact  with  the 
world  and  has  had  at  times  a  high  civilization.  But 
the  remainder  of  the  continent  has  been  for  the  most 
part  a  terra  incognita.  Her  people  have  looked  out, 
not  upon  the  highway  of  narrow  seas  or  straits,  but 
upon  the  barriers  of  boundless  oceans.  The  location 

1  The  hostile  armies  first  came  into  collision  Aug.  2,  1870,  and  the  battle 
of  Sedan,  which  was  decisive  of  the  final  result  and  was  followed  next  day 
by  the  surrender  of  the  emperor  with  an  army  of  more  than  80,000  men,  was 
fought  Sept.  1. 


4  THE  NEW 

of  Africa  and  her  coast-line  are  much  less  favorable  to 
intercourse  than  those  of  Asia,  her  people  have  been 
much  more  isolated,  and  there  we  find  a  lower  barbarism 
than  any  in  Asia. 

The  world  is  entering  on  an  era  in  which  the  isolation 
of  any  people  will  become  impossible  and  then  will  the 
world's  barbarism  disappear. 

2d.  Notice  briefly  the  political  changes  of  the  past 
century.  The  explanation  of  most  of  them  is  found  in 
the  growth  of  democracy. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  the  spirit  of  free  in- 
quiry became  universal  in  Europe,  but  it  was  purely 
speculative.  Though  England  enjoyed  a  measure  of 
liberty,  absolutism  still  reigned  on  the  Continent.  For 
sixty  years  of  that  century  Louis  XV.  disgraced  the 
throne  of  France.  He  regarded  the  people  of  his 
domain  as  his  personal  property.  Their  lives  and  sub- 
stance were  at  his  disposal.  But  wretched  and  en- 
slaved as  was  the  condition  of  the  French,  that  of  other 
Continental  nations  is  shown  by  De  Tocqueville  to  have 
been  even  worse. 

The  French  Revolution  made  the  people  conscious  of 
their  power,  and  hence  prepared  the  way  for  liberty  as 
soon  as  the  people  should  become  capable  of  it.  Napo- 
leon in  accomplishing  his  own  selfish  and  despotic  pur- 
poses did  inestimable  service  to  popular  rights,  and 
though,  upon  his  fall,  the  old  order  of  things  was  re- 
established for  a  season,  at  least  in  form,  absolutism 
from  that  time  on  must  needs  reckon  with  the  growing 
spirit  of  democracy. 

Says  Robert  Mackenzie1:  "Sixty  years  ago  Europe 
was  an  aggregate  of  despotic  powers,  disposing  at  their 
own  pleasure  of  the  lives  and  property  of  their  subjects ; 
.  .  .  to-day  the  men  of  Western  Europe  govern  them- 
selves. Popular  suffrage,  more  or  less  closely  ap- 
proaching universal,  chooses  the  governing  power,  and 
by  methods  more  or  less  effective  dictates  its  policy. 

1  The  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  459. 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.          5 

One  hundred  and  eighty^million  Europeans  have  risen 
from  a  degraded  and  ever  dissatisfied  vassalage  to  the 
rank  of  free  and  self-governing  men."  When  we 
remember  that  freedom  is  the  most  favorable  condition 
for  a  natural,  healthful  development,  we  see  the  signi- 
ficance of  the  growth  of  modern  democracy.  This 
great  political  change  is  prophetic  of  progress  because 
it  has  removed  the  barriers  which  most  seriously 
obstruct  progress. 

3d.  Consider  now  certain  social  changes.  Since  the 
middle  of  the  century  there  has  sprung  up  and  spread 
well-nigh  throughout  Christendom  a  deep  discontent 
on  the  part  of  workingmen.  Its  causes  and  its  signifi- 
cance will  furnish  the  subject  of  a  later  chapter  (VII), 
in  which  it  will  be  shown  that  this  popular  discontent 
foreshadoAvs  important  changes  in  our  civilization. 
Suffice  it  now  to  remark  that  a  condition  of  political 
equality  having  been  achieved,  it  is  short-sighted  to 
suppose  that  society  has,  therefore,  arrived  at  a  state  of 
stable  equilibrium.  Democracy  necessitates  popular 
education,  and  popular  education  multiplies  popular 
wants.  If  the  many  have  the  same  wants  as  the  few, 
they  will  demand  the  same  means  of  gratifying  those 
wants.  To  give  to  the  poor  like  tastes  with  the  rich  is 
to  create  an  inevitable  demand  for  substantial  equality 
of  condition  and  to  stimulate  discontent  until  such 
equality  is  secured. 

The  discontent  of  labor  has  gained  such  a  hearing 
that  there  has  been  awakened  within  a  few  years  an 
unprecedented  interest  in  industrial  and  all  sociological 
questions.  Books  treating  these  subjects  have  had  an 
astonishing  circulation.  A  large  number  of  periodicals 
devoted  to  social  economy  and  advocating  industrial, 
economic,  or  social  reforms  have  sprung  into  existence. 
Labor  organizations,  whose  avowed  object  it  is  to  effect 
important  changes  in  the  laws  and  in  the  whole  status  of 
labor,  have  appeared  and  grown  powerful.  Advocates 
of  the  reorganization  of  industry  on  a  co-operative  in- 
stead of  a  competitive  basis  have  made  many  disciples. 


6  THE  NEW  ERA. 

The  word  Socialism  is  growing  less  obnoxious  to 
Americans.  It  is,  as  Dr.  Gladden  says,  being  "fumi- 
gated." And  it  has  needed  it,  for  some  foul  meanings 
have  infested  it.  Socialism,  separated  from  all  adventi- 
tious doctrines,  has  been  accepted  by  many  Christian 
men  and  women  of  the  American  stock,  and  among 
them  are  many  of  the  younger  clergy. 

The  growth  of  socialism  in  Germany  during  the  past 
twenty  years  has  been  surprising.  The  socialist  vote 
for  members  of  the  Reichstag  in  1871  was  124,655;  in 
1890  it  was  1,341,587.  Schmoller  well  remarks:  "A 
social  movement  of  thousands  is  possible  only  when 
thousands  of  thousands  have  become  doubters." 

The  German  government  has  taken  an  important  step 
toward  state  socialism  by  insuring  German  working- 
men  against  illness,  accident,  and  old  age,  making  such 
insurance  compulsory.  Like  measures  have  been  pro- 
posed in  France,  Hungary,  and  Denmark.  "The  ques- 
tion at  issue  among  most  Continental  statesmen  and 
students  to-day  concerns  the  details  rather  than  the 
principle  of  such  state  help.  The  era  of  full  reaction 
against  laissez-faire  theory  and  practice  has  come  and 
Emperor  William  II.  is  its  prophet."  1 

Taken  in  connection  with  the  discontent  of  working- 
men  and  an  increasing  readiness  on  the  part  of  society 
to  listen  to  their  demands  for  change,  there  is  great  sig- 
nificance in  the  tendency  toward  organization  and  cen- 
tralization which  is  seen  everywhere. 

The  progress  of  the  race  has  been  along  two  lines, 
viz.,  the  development  of  the  individual  and  the  organ- 
ization of  society,  the  kind  of  organization  of  which 
society  is  capable  being  dependent  on  the  measure  or 
type  of  development  attained  by  the  individual.  In 
the  history  of  Europe,  for  centuries  together,  progress 
seems  to  have  been  along  only  one  of  these  lines  at  a 
time — a  development  of  the  individual  at  the  expense 
of  social  organization,  followed  by  a  closer  organization 

i  G.  W.  Hinman,  in  The  Social  Economist,  April,  1891. 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.          7 

of  society,  a  centralization  of  power  at  the  expense  of 
personal  liberty.  Thus  when  society  began  to  emerge 
from  the  lawless  individualism  of  the  barbarians  it  was 
organized  under  the  aristocratic  form  and  then  passed 
into  the  more  centralized  form  of  absolutism,  which 
culminated  in  the  seventeenth  century  and  under 
which  individual  rights  were  ruthlessly  sacrificed.  In 
the  next  century  the  reaction  toward  individualism 
came  with  the  French  Revolution.  The  remarkable 
growth  of  democracy  during  the  past  one  hundred 
years,  which  of  course  meant  the  development  of  indi- 
vidualism, has  already  been  noticed.  And  now  we  see 
unmistakable  evidence  that  the  pendulum  of  the  ages 
has  again  begun  to  swing  in  the  direction  of  a  closer  or- 
ganization of  society,  which  movement  is  greatly  facili- 
tated by  the  increased  ease  of  communication  afforded 
by  steam  and  electricity. 

Look  at  some  of  the  evidence  of  this  reaction.  In  the 
commercial  world  the  tendency  toward  consolidation 
is  most  striking.  First,  many  independent  railway 
corporations  were  united  into  a  system,  and  now  great 
systems  are  being  consolidated  under  one  management. 
The  same  is  true  of  telegraph  lines.  A  like  tendency  is 
seen  in  all  kinds  of  production.  In  various  lines  of 
manufactures  there  appear  an  increasing  output  and  a 
decreasing  number  of  factories,  showing  of  course  con- 
solidation. This  tendency  must  continue  so  long  as 
production  on  a  large  scale  is  cheaper  than  production 
on  a  small  scale.  "The  following  statements  have  re- 
cently been  made  in  California,  on  what  is  claimed 
to  be  good  authority  (Overland  Monthly},  of  the  com- 
parative cost  of  growing  wheat  in  that  State  on 
ranches,  or  farms  of  different  sizes.  On  ranches  of 
1,000  acres,  the  average  cost  is  reported  at  924  cents  per 
100  pounds;  on  2,000  acres,  85  cents;  on  6,000  acres,  75 
cents;  on  15, 000  acres,  60  cents;  on  30,000  acres,  50  cents; 
and  on  50,000  acres,  40  cents  "  ' 

1  D.  A  Wells'  Recent  Economic  Changes,  j*  99. 


8  THE  NEW  ERA. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  modern  busi 
ness  world  is  the  growth  of  powerful  corporations  and 
more  powerful  combinations  in  the  form  of  "pools," 
"  trusts,'1  and  "  syndicates."  The  conditions  of  produc 
tion  and  transportation  have  largely  ceased  to  be  demo- 
cratic ;  and  the  question  may  be  reasonably  asked,  Can 
our  government  remain  democratic  and  our  industries 
continue  aristocratic  or  monarchic — that  is,  controlled 
by  the  corporation  or  the  industrial  "  king  "  ?  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Johnston  says':  "The  great  American  republic 
seems  to  be  entering  upon  a  new  era,  in  which  it  must 
meet  and  solve  a  new  problem — the  reconciliation  of 
democracy  with  the  modern  conditions  of  production.',' 

Ever  since  our  civil  war  there  has  been  a  marked 
tendency  toward  the  centralization  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States.  Justice  Miller,  in  an  address  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  occasion  of  the  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  said:  "While 
the  pendulum  of  public  opinion  has  swung  with  much 
force  away  from  the  extreme  point  of  states-rights 
doctrine,  there  may  be  danger  of  its  reaching  an  ex- 
treme point  on  the  other  side." 

This  centripetal  tendency  of  the  times  is  further  illus- 
trated by  the  creation  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  and  the 
Empire  of  Germany  out  of  political  fragments.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  were  in 
Germany  nearly  three  hundred  independent  powers. 

Another  manifestation  of  the  same  tendency  is  seen 
in  the  wonderful  drift  of  population  to  the  cities,  which 
seems  to  be  a  world-phenomenon. 

So  general  a  tendency  toward  the  centralization  of 
population,  of  political  power,  of  capital,  and  of  pro- 
duction, manifested  in  ways  so  various,  can  indicate 
nothing  less  than  a  great  movement  toward  a  closer 
organization  of  society,  a  new  development  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

Thoughtful  men  everywhere  have  become  expectant 

i  Encyclopaedia  Brit  annica,  Vol.  XXIII.  p.  787. 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.          9 

of  great  social  changes.  Says  President  Andrews  of 
Brown  University1:  "If  anything  has  been  made  cer- 
tain by  the  economic  revolution  of  the  last  twenty-five 
years,  it  is  that  society  cannot  much  longer  get  on 
upon  the  old  libertarian,  competitive,  go-as-you-please 
system  to  which  so  many  sensible  persons  seem  ad- 
dicted. The  population  of  the  great  nations  is  becom- 
ing too  condensed  for  that." 

Bishop  Westcott,  while  professor  at  Cambridge, 
wrote2:  "On  every  side  imperious  voices  trouble  the 
repose  which  our  indolence  would  wish  to  keep  undis- 
turbed. We  can  no  longer  dwell  apart  in  secure  isola- 
tion. The  main  interests  of  men  are  once  again  passing 
through  a  great  change.  They  are  most  surely  turning 
from  the  individual  to  the  society."  The  author  of 
"God  in  His  World"  remarks3:  "We  are  now  ap- 
proaching such  a  crisis.  No  human  wisdom  can  pre- 
dict its  shaping  any  more  than  it  can  prevent  the 
issue.  The  air  is  full  of  auguries,  and  even  our  fic- 
tion has  become  very  precisely  apocalyptic.  It  is 
theoretic  prophecy,  anticipating  the  realization  of  per- 
fect scientific  and  social  economics — the  Paradise  of 
Outward  Comfortableness."  The  Westminster  Review 
says4:  "It  is  felt  by  every  student  and  every  states- 
man that  some  movement  vast  and  momentous, 
though  indefinite,  is  passing  like  a  great  wave  over 
the  civilized  world."  And  The  Churchman  says5: 
"It  is  idle  to  refuse  to  admit  the  fact  that  modern 
civilization  is  in  a  transition  state.  .  .  .  There  are  a 
thousand  evidences  that  the  present  state  of  things  is 
drawing  to  a  close,  and  that  some  new  development  of 
social  organization  is  at  hand."  Says  Mr.  William  T. 
Stead8 :  "  Everywhere  the  old  order  is  changing  and 
giving  place  unto  the  new.  The  human  race  is  now  at 
one  of  the  crucial  periods  in  its  history  when  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  are  broken  up,  and  the  flood  of 

1  TheCoii(jregationalist,J&n  22,1891.    *  Social  Aspects  of  Christianity,  p.  4. 

'  Page  xxv.  «  London,  May.  1890. 

»  New  York,  Jan.  17,  1891.  «  Tbe  Pope  and  the  New  Era,  p.  20. 


10  THE  NEW  ERA. 

change  submerges  all  the  old-established  institutions 
and  conventions  in  the  midst  of  which  preceding  gen- 
erations have  lived  and  died."  Such  citations  might  be 
indefinitely  multiplied. 

Many  expect  violent  revolution.  Whether  such  ex- 
pectations are  realized  will  depend  probably  on  the 
Christian  church,  whether  she  is  sufficiently  awake  to 
see  and  to  seize  her  opportunity.  The  church  is  not  yet 
adequately  aroused,  but  I  believe  that  she  can  be,  and 
therefore  do  not  deem  revolution  probable.  We  may 
have  social  revolution,  we  must  have  social  evolution. 
Social  systems  are  never  invented,  they  are  evolved, 
they  grow  out  of  what  has  preceded.  A  revolution 
may  suddenly  sweep  away  existing  institutions  as  a  fire 
destroys  a  forest,  but  the  new  forest  which  rises  out  of 
the  ashes  is  a  growth.  Surely  it  is  too  late  for  the 
world — or  at  least  the  Anglo-Saxon  part  of  it — to  fall 
into  the  "  French  fallacy  that  a  new  system  of  govern- 
ment" or  a  new  social  organization  "can  be  ordered 
like  a  new  suit  of  clothes."1  The  social  changes  which 
are  sure  to  come  will  doubtless  be  great,  but  they  will 
be  natural — the  effects  of  causes  long  antecedent ; 
hence  the  importance  of  comprehending,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, existing  conditions  and  tendencies. 

4th.  Consider  now  briefly  a  few  suggestions  touching 
the  changes  of  which  the  progress  of  science  is  pro- 
phetic. 

Most  of  our  scientific  knowledge  is  the  growth  of  the 
past  century.  It  would  be  idle  to  attempt  even  to 
enumerate  its  practical  applications  to  life.  By  making 
communication  easy  and  swift  science  has  affected 
all  human  relations  and  conditions:  by  perfecting 
the  press  it  has  popularized  knowledge  and  power- 
fully stimulated  the  mind;  by  means  of  labor-saving 
appliances  it  has  revolutionized  the  industrial  world 
and  added  enormously  to  the  world's  wealth,  awak- 
ened new  aspirations  on  the  part  of  the  multitude 

1  James  Russell  Lowell's  "  Democracy,"  p.  S3. 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.        11 

and  created  new  problems  and  possibilities  of  life.  If 
all  that  science  has  done  for  the  world  during  this  cen- 
tury were  suddenly  struck  out,  it  would  leave  our  civi- 
lization in  ruins;  so  universal  and  profound  would  be 
the  changes  wrought  that  we  should  hardly  know 
whether  we  were  living  on  this  planet  or  had  been  mys- 
teriously transferred  to  some  other.  And  we  must 
remember  that  much  of  the  progress  of  science  is  so 
recent  that  as  yet  we  have  seen  scarcely  a  beginning  of 
its  endless  applications  to  life.  Moreover  some  of  the 
most  practical  sciences  are  still  in  their  infancy;  the 
field  of  knowledge  is  boundless,  and  each  new  acquisi- 
tion makes  others  more  easy.  We  must  remember  also 
that  a  great  body  of  men  are  making  it  their  business 
to  extend  science;  and  while  discovery  and  invention 
were  once  accidental,  they  have  now  become  the  spe- 
cialty of  many.  Science  is  certainly  destined  to  make 
great  progress  during  the  next  century  and,  therefore, 
to  work  great  additional  changes  in  civilization. 

What  if  it  could  be  certainly  known  that  during  the 
twentieth  century  there  would  be  a  new  revelation  of 
God's  will,  another  table  of  the  divine  law  given  to  men 
to  meet  new  needs  of  civilization  and  to  hasten  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth;  and  so 
given  as  to  authenticate  itself  and  carry  conviction  of 
its  truth  to  all  the  world?  With  what  profound  and 
eager  expectation  would  it  be  awaited  !  What  supreme 
blessings  should  we  expect  it  to  bestow  on  mankind, 
and  what  a  mighty  upward  impetus  would  it  give  the 
race ! 

Just  such  a  revelation  has  been  made  during  the  past 
century  and  is  to  be  continued  in  the  next.  Its  truth  is 
evident,  but  all  do  not  yet  perceive  that  the  truths  of 
science  are  God's  truths,  that  its  laws  are  God's  laws. 
The  church  has  even  looked  askance  at  it.  It  has  been 
regarded  not  only  as  secular  but  as  actually  hostile  to 
religion.  Books  have  been  written  and  professorships 
established  to  "reconcile,"  if  possible,  these  two 
"foes."  But  Clement  of  Alexandria  was  quite  right 


12  THE  NEW  ERA. 

when  he  refused  to  make  any  distinction  "between 
what  man  discovers  and  what  God  reveals."  Science 
discovers  natural  laws  and  processes;  and  if  God  is 
really  the  ruler  of  the  universe,  the  laws  and  processes 
of  nature  are  only  the  divine  purposes  and  methods. 
Science  is  therefore  as  truly  a  revelation  from  God  and 
of  God  as  are  the  Scriptures,  as  really  a  revelation  of 
his  will  as  was  the  Decalogue,  and  one  which  is  to  have 
as  real  a  part  in  the  coming  of  his  kingdom  among  men 
as  the  New  Testament.  God's  will  expressed  in  what 
we  call  natural  law  is  as  benevolent  and  as  sacred  as 
his  will  expressed  in  what  we  call  moral  law.  The 
more  perfectly  his  law,  whether  natural  or  moral,  is 
known  and  obeyed,  the  better  is  it  for  the  race.  This 
new  evangel  of  science  means  new  blessings  to  man- 
kind, a  new  extension  of  the  kingdom.  The  church 
ought  to  leap  for  joy  that  in  modern  times  God  has 
raised  up  these  new  prophets  of  his  truth.  It  will  be 
shown  later  that  this  modern  revelation  of  his  will 
means  a  mighty  hastening  of  the  day  when  his  will  is 
to  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. 

One  of  the  great  services  which  science  has  rendered 
has  been  to  clear  the  world  of  an  immense  amount  of 
rubbish  which  lay  in  the  path  of  progress.  The  scien- 
tific habit  of  mind  is  fatal  to  credulity  and  superstition ; 
it  rests  not  on  opinions,  but  facts ;  it  is  loyal,  not  to  au- 
thority, but  truth.  This  means  that  as  the  scientific 
habit  of  mind  obtains,  men  will  break  away  from  the 
superstitions  of  heathenism  and  from  the  superstitious 
forms  of  Christianity.  Scientific  knowledge  is  rapidly 
becoming  a  necessity  to  all  civilized  peoples.  Com- 
merce is  bringing  the  nations  into  an  ever  closer  con- 
tact, which  means  increasing  competition,  and  however 
cheap  flesh  and  blood  may  be,  they  cannot  compete 
with  steam  and  steel.  The  Bureau  of  Statistics  at  Ber- 
lin estimated  in  1887  that  the  steam-engines  then  at 
work  in  the  world  represented  approximately  1,000,000,- 
000  men,  or  three  tunes  the  working  population  of  the 
earth.  This  mighty  force  is  at  work  for  the  Christian 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.        13 

nations.  What  are  all  the  millions  of  China  and  India 
compared  with  it  ?  Cheap  labor  cannot  compete  with 
machinery  which  enables  one  man  to  do  the  work  of 
ten  or  twenty  or  a  hundred  men.  Labor-saving  ma- 
chinery is  destined  to  go  wherever  men  toil,  and  with  it 
will  go  an  increasing  knowledge  of  science. 

Moreover  China,  hating  foreigners,  wishes  to  become 
independent  of  them.  She  has  been  compelled  to  em- 
ploy them  to  build  her  navy,  to  arm  her  soldiers  and 
make  her  munitions  of  war.  In  order  to  become  inde- 
pendent of  them  she  must  needs  introduce  the  study  of 
the  sciences  into  her  schools.  Thus  science  is  destined 
to  become  the  great  iconoclast  of  the  heathen  world. 
What  then?  Men  react  from  superstition  into  infidel- 
ity, which  has  already  become  the  great  peril  of  Japan 
and  is  becoming  the  peril  of  India.  The  greatest  of 
modern  Hindoos,  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  once  said:  "I 
fear  for  my  countrymen  that  they  will  sink  from  the 
hell  of  heathenism  into  the  deeper  hell  of  infidelity." 
The  prospect  is  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  generations 
the  heathen  world  will  become  either  Christian  or 
agnostic.  Which  it  will  become  will  depend  on  the 
church. 

In  this  connection  we  may  not  inappropriately  re- 
mind ourselves  of  the  familiar  and  significant  changes 
which  have  already  taken  place  during  the  past  cen- 
tury among  heathen  and  Mohammedan  peoples.1 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  Japanese  were  so  separated 
from  the  remainder  of  mankind  that  so  far  as  any  in- 
terc.ourse  is  concerned  they  might  almost  as  well  have 
inhabited  the  moon.  There  was  then  in  force  a  law  pro- 
viding that  "  no  ship  or  native  of  Japan  should  quit  the 
country  under  pain  of  forfeiture  and  death ;  that  any 
Japanese  returning  from  a  foreign  country  should  be 
put  to  death;  that  no  nobleman  or  soldier  should  be 
suffered  to  purchase  anything  from  a  foreigner;  that 
any  person  bringing  a  letter  from  abroad  .  .  .  should  die 

1  For  a  full  and  able  discussion  of  these  changes  see  that  missionary 
Classic,  "  The  Crisis  of  Missions,"  by  Rev.  A  T.  Pierson,  P.P, 


14  THE  NEW  ERA. 

together  with  all  his  family  and  any  who  might  pre- 
sume to  intercede  for  him." 

Until  within  a  few  years  the  following  royal  rescript, 
issued  on  the  extirpation  of  the  Jesuits,  remained 
posted  up  through  all  the  kingdom:  "  So  long  as  the 
sun  shall  warm  the  earth  let  no  Christian  be  so  bold  as 
to  come  to  Japan ;  and  let  all  know  that  the  king  of 
Spain  himself,  or  the  Christian's  God,  or  the  great  God 
of  all,  if  he  violate  this  command,  shall  pay  for  it  with 
his  head."  To-day  there  is  a  new  civilization  in  Japan. 
As  a  Japanese  lecturer  said,  there  is  nothing  left  as  it 
was  thirty  years  ago,  "except  the  natural  scenery."1 
The  nation  is  now  eager  to  place  itself  in  the  forefront 
of  progress. 

China  has  for  centuries  been  separated  from  the 
world  by  a  barrier  far  more  effectual  than  her  famous 
"Myriad-Mile  Wall" — a  wall  of  pride  and  prejudice, 
more  immovable,  more  impenetrable,  more  insurmount- 
able than  any  possible  wall  of  stone  and  mortar. 

But  a  trial  of  arms  with  Great  Britain  and  France 
taught  China  a  wholesome  respect  for  Western  Powers ; 
and  her  pride  was  sufficiently  humbled  to  employ  for- 
eigners to  teach  her  sons  ship-building  and  navigation, 
together  with  the  military  science  by  which  her  armies 
had  been  beaten. 

The  war  of  1856  resulted  in  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin, 
which  guarantees  the  protection  of  the  Chinese  authori- 
ties to  all  persons  teaching  or  professing  the  Christian 
religion,  thus  opening  the  door  to  Christian  civilization. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  gates  of  India 
were  locked  to  Christian  missions  and  the  East  India 
Company  held  the  key.  That  company  was  hostile  to 
missions  because  it  received  large  revenues  from  native 
idolatries,  and  "as  late  as  1852  $3,750,000  were  paid 
from  public  funds  to  repair  temples,  provide  new  idols 
and  idol-cars,  and  support  a  pagan  priesthood."  2 

The  East  India  Company  was  abolished  in  1858,  and 

>  The  Crisis  of  Missions,  p.  100.  a  Ibid.  p.  48. 


THIS  CENTURY  ONE  OF  PREPARATION.        15 

the  British  Government  is  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
Christian  missions  in  India.  Its  officials  there  annually 
contribute  many  thousands  of  pounds  for  their  main- 
tenance. Moreover  social  caste,  which  in  India  sepa- 
rates classes  as  oceans  separate  continents,  and  which 
has  served  to  maintain  isolation  and  stagnation,  is 
giving  way  before  modern  civilization,  which  is  every 
where  bringing  men  into  closer  relations. 

At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Otto- 
man Empire  was  characterized  by  the  same  spirit 
which  had  once  rendered  it  a  terror  to  Christian 
nations.  To-day  the  Protestants  of  Turkey,  like  the 
other  religionists  of  the  empire,  have  their  recognized 
rights  and  a  representative  at  the  imperial  city,  re- 
ligious liberty  having  been  assured  by  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  vast  interior  of  the  Dark 
Continent  was  a  mystery.  Now  the  great  "open  sore 
of  the  world ' '  has  been  thoroughly  probed — a  long  step 
toward  its  healing. 

The  changes  which  have  been  very  briefly  recited 
have  a  significance  which  is  simply  boundless.  During 
this  century  the  barriers  which  separated  more  than 
800,000,000  heathen  from  the  transforming  influences 
of  modern  and  Christian  civilization  have  been  broken 
down.  The  prison-pens  which  condemned  more  than 
one  half  of  the  human  family  to  isolation  and,  there- 
fore, stagnation  have  been  thrown  open.  The  contact 
of  the  Occident  and  the  Orient  has  already  produced  in 
the  latter  unwonted  signs  of  life.  The  dead  crust  of 
fossil  faiths  is  beginning  to  be  shattered  by  the  move- 
ments of  new  life  underneath.  "  In  every  corner  of  the 
world,"  says  Mr.  Froude,'  "  there  is  the  same  phenome- 
non of  the  decay  of  established  religions.  .  .  .  Among 
the  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Buddhists,  Brahmins,  tradi- 
tionary creeds  are  loosing  their  hold.  An  intellectual 
revolution  is  sweeping  over  the  world,  breaking  down 

1  North  American  Review,  December,  1879. 


16  THE  NEW  ERA. 

established  opinions,  dissolving  foundations  on  which 
historical  faiths  have  been  built  up."  And  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  religious  beliefs  underlie  and 
determine  social  and  political  institutions. 

The  door  "  great  and  effectual  "  which  is  thus  opened 
to  the  Christian  church  has  been  only  partially  entered. 
Noble  as  has  been  the  work  of  modern  missions,  it  must 
be  regarded  chiefly  as  one  of  preparation.  The  lan- 
guages of  savage  peoples  have  been  reduced  to  writing, 
the  Bible  and  a  Christian  literature  have  been  trans- 
lated into  tongues  spoken  by  hundreds  of  millions, 
schools  and  seminaries  for  training  up  a  native  minis- 
try have  been  established,  missionaries  have  learned 
much  of  native  character  and  of  the  necessary  con- 
ditions of  success.  A  foothold  has  been  secured,  a 
fulcrum  found,  the  gospel  lever  put  in  place,  and  the 
near  future  will  see  the  mighty  uplift. 

We  have  cast  a  hasty  glance  over  Christendom  and 
heathendom,  and  have  sought  to  interpret  briefly, 
though  not  superficially,  the  great  changes  of  the 
century.  They  seem  to  me  to  point  unmistakably  to 
one  conclusion.  The  draAving  of  the  peoples  of  the 
earth  into  ever  closer  relations,  which  will  render  isola- 
tion and,  therefore,  barbarism  impossible  and  will  oper- 
ate as  a  constant  stimulus;  the  growth  of  freedom 
which  removes  the  greatest  barriers  to  progress;  the 
social  ferment  and  the  evident  tendency  toward  a  new 
social  organization;  the  progress  of  science,  destroying 
superstition,  thus  clearing  the  way  for  truth ;  the  open- 
ing of  the  heathen  world  to  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and 
the  quickening  forces  of  modern  life;  the  evident 
crumbling  of  heathen  religions,  which  means  the  loosen- 
ing of  the  foundations  of  heathen  society — surely  all 
these  indicate  that  the  world  is  about  to  enter  on  a  new 
era,  for  which  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  the  John 
the  Baptist. 

"  Out  of  the  shadow  of  night 
The  world  moves  into  light ; 
It  is  daybreak  everywhere  1" 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  DESTINY  OP  THE  RACE. 

IT  is  evidence  of  a  narrow  and  thoughtless  mind  to 
imagine  that  the  existing  condition  of  things  is  final. 
Certainly  no  condition  of  society  that  has  ever  existed 
has  been  final,  and  none  ever  can  be  until  perfection  is 
reached ;  and  no  one  surely  will  contend  that  society  as 
now  organized  is  perfect ;  no  one  will  imagine  that  man 
has  already  attained  the  highest  development  of  which 
he  is  capable. 

Obviously  the  body  was  intended  to  serve  the  intelli- 
gence. Limbs  and  bodily  organs  are  the  instruments  of 
the  higher  nature.  Evidently,  then,  so  long  as  the  great 
mass  of  mankind  are  chiefly  concerned  from  morning 
till  night  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life,  so  long  as  the 
intelligence  plans  and  the  will  strives  above  all  things 
to  find  covering  for  limbs  and  bread  for  mouth,  there  is 
manifest  perversion,  the  higher  nature  has  become  the 
slave  of  its  own  servant.  Such  inversion  is  unnatural ; 
such  a  condition  of  things  cannot  be  final.  It  is  not 
what  God  intended  for  the  race  when  he  gave  man  a 
spiritual  nature. 

4>  If  life's  to  be  filled  with  drudgery,  what  need 
of  a  human  soul  f" 

When  we  think  of  what  man  is  capable — that  he  may 
search  out  the  secrets  of  nature  and  "think  God's 
thoughts  after  him;"  that  he  may  become  sensitive  to 
all  beauty  and  delight  himself  in  the  harmonies  of 
sound,  of  color,  of  form,  of  numbers,  of  laws ;  that  he  is 
capable  of  a  self-forgetting  love  even  unto  death  for  his 
fellow-men;  that  he  is  capable  of  high  aspirations,  of 

17 


18  THE  NEW  ERA. 

spiritual  struggle  and  victory,  of  entering  into  God's 
great  plans  for  the  race  and  attaining  a  divine  harmony 
of  thought  and  feeling  and  purpose  with  the  Highest ; — 
when  we  think  of  the  high  plane  on  which  he  is  capable 
of  living  and  then  remember  where  he  is,  and  consider 
that  to  most  of  the  race,  even  as  to  the  brutes,  life  is 
one  long,  weary  struggle  to  supply  animal  icants, 
surely  we  must  look  upon  the  race  as  in  a  low  and  early 
stage  of  development. 

Have  we  any  means  of  judging  of  the  future  develop- 
ment of  the  race  and  of  its  destiny  ?  If  we  find  that  its 
progress  thus  far  has  been  along  certain  lines  from  the 
beginning,  we  may  reasonably  infer  that  it  will  con- 
tinue to  move  along  those  same  lines  in  the  future,  and 
we  may  rest  in  this  conclusion  with  the  greater  confi- 
dence if  these  projected  lines  lead  up  to  a  consumma- 
tion foretold  both  by  revelation  and  science,  the  agree- 
ment of  which  is  an  evidence  that  the  interpretation  of 
both  is  correct. 

Science  has  discovered  that  underlying  the  Avonderful 
complexity  of  nature  there  is  a  no  less  wonderful  unity, 
and  confirms  that  highest  of  all  generalizations  ex- 
pressed in  the  word  universe,  which  declares  that  all 
creation  is  a  whole.  The  scope  of  Humboldt's  great 
work,  the  Kosmos,  was  to  show  the  unity  which  exists 
amid  the  complexity  of  nature.  There  would  be  no 
propriety  in  speaking  of  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and 
animal  kingdoms,  were  not  their  endless  varieties 
brought  under  the  sceptre  of  unifying  laws.  Unity  in 
diversity  seems  to  be  the  fundamental  law  of  the  universe. 
Broader  than  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  embraces 
only  the  physical  creation;  broader  than  the  laws  of 
thought,  which  are  confined  to  the  intellectual  world; 
and  broader  than  the  law  of  love,  which  is  binding  only 
in  the  moral  realm,  this  basal  law  unites  these  several 
spheres  in  one  infinite  whole,  including,  as  it  seems,  all 
created  existence,  and  finds  its  highest  illustration  in 
the  highest  of  all  existences,  even  the  Creator  himself, 
who  has  revealed  himself  to  us  as  the  triune  God. 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  19 

But  many  who  see  that  unity  in  diversity  is  the  great 
law  of  nature  fail  to  perceive  that  it  is  also  the  great 
law  of  history,  that 

"  Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs." ' 

There  could  be  no  philosophy  of  history  if  there  were 
no  laws,  no  purpose  or  plan  running  through  the  whole, 
bringing  into  relations  with  each  other  events  which 
seem  wholly  disconnected  and  sporadic.  The  atheist  is 
unable  to  account  for  such  unity,  if  he  perceives  it, 
and  the  agnostic  does  not  attempt  to  account  for  it; 
but  the  theist  finds  this  profound  fact  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  his  belief  in  an  Infinite  Intelligence  who 
created  and  now  governs  the  universe,  and  governs  it 
with  reference  to  a  definite  and  benevolent  outcome. 

In  the  history  of  civilization  this  great  law  of  unity  in 
diversity  manifests  itself  in  two  fundamental  princi- 
ples, viz.,  the  development  of  the  individual  (diver- 
sity), and  the  organization  of  society  (unity).  All  the 
progress  of  the  race  has  been  along  one  of  these  two 
lines,  the  higher  development  of  the  individual  or  the 
higher  organization  of  society. 

Unity  in  diversity,  which  finds  perfect  illustration  in 
the  material  universe,  only  imperfectly  describes  the 
condition  of  the  moral  world.  There  it  represents  not 
the  actual  but  the  ideal,  the  goal  toward  which  the  race 
has  thus  far  slowly  moved.  The  harmony  of  the  physi- 
cal universe  has  not  been  marred  since  the  morning- 
stars  first  sang  together,  for  things  have  no  will  power 
and  cannot  disobey.  But  God  gave  to  men  will  and 
liberty  that  they  might  have  moral  character  and  that 
their  obedience  might  mean  something  more  than  the 
unerring  movements  of  the  stars.  Harmony  in  diver- 
sity where  there  is  no  liberty  is  devoid  of  moral  beauty; 
and  liberty  and  diversity  where  there  is  no  harmony 
mean  anarchy,  while  diversity  is  the  inevitable  result 
of  liberty  and  a  necessary  condition  of  harmony.  It 
appears,  then,  that  the  highest  conceivable  society,  one 

'  Locksley  Hall. 


20  THE  NEW  ERA. 

perfectly  illustrating  this  most  comprehensive  of  all 
laws,  would  be  composed  of  persons  of  perfect  individ- 
uality, each  enjoying  perfect  liberty  and  yet  all  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  the  divine  will  and  therefore  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  each  other.  The  development  of  such 
a  society  would  seem  to  be  the  divine  ideal  for  the  race. 

Revelation  certainly  teaches  that  final  earthly  society 
is  to  be  perfect.  By  a  perfect  society  I  do  not  mean  a 
changeless  society,  for  intelligence  demands  endless 
growth,  but  one  free  from  all  taint  of  evil,  "without 
spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing" — "a  new  earth,"  ' 
"which  shall  remain,"2  "wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness," s  where  sin  and  sorrow  shall  be  unknown,  for 
these  "  former  things  shall  have  passed  away." 4  We  are 
apt  to  understand  the  twenty -first  and  twenty-second 
chapters  of  the  Revelation  as  a  description  of  heaven. 
And  so  they  are,  but  it  is  heaven  on  earth,  the  new 
Jerusalem  come  down  to  the  new  earth  "from  God  out 
of  heaven."  5  It  is  a  glorious  vision  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  fully  come.  Every  one  who  believes  in  heaven  at 
all  believes  that  there  is  realized  a  perfect  society ;  but 
we  are  told  that  the  kingdoms  of  "this  world"  are  to 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,6  that  when  the  ful- 
ness of  time  is  come  there  are  to  be  gathered  together 
"  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven 
and  which  are  on  earth."  7  This  promise  of  all  things 
"  gathered  together  in  one"  is  a  prophecy  that  the  law 
of  unity  in  diversity  is  yet  to  find  perfect  exemplifica- 
tion in  the  moral  world. 

History  shows  that  man  has  already  travelled  a  long 
way  in  this  direction.  To  be  sure  there  is  still  a  vast 
amount  of  corruption  and  meanness  in  the  world,  much 
of  injustice  and  inhumanity,  much  of  tyranny  and 
brutality  and  beastliness.  One  does  not  need  a  wide 
acquaintance  with  the  world  in  order  to  understand 
Madame  de  Stael's  declaration  that  the  more  she  saw  of 

1  Isa.  Ixv.  17  ;  2  Pet.  iii.  13;  Rev.  xxi.  1.  2  isa  ]xvj  23. 

3  2  Pet.  ill.  13.  *  Rev.  xxi.  1,  4,  27.  «  Rev.  xxl.  2,  10. 

•  Rev.  xi.  15.  7  Eph.  i.  10. 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  21 

men  the  more  she  liked  dogs.  Dogs  are  not  capable  of 
such  degradation  as  are  men.  Human  nature  may  fall 
as  much  below  brute  nature  as  it  is  capable  of  rising 
above  it.  Surely  the  race  is  low  enough,  but  the  ques- 
tion is  not  simply  Where  are  we  ?  but  Whence  come  we  ? 
and  In  what  direction  is  our  face  set  ?  In  historic  times 
there  has  been  a  vast  change  for  the  better.  Progress 
has  not  been  uniform  or  constant,  but  no  one  can  ques- 
tion that  civilization  is  on  a  higher  plane  now  than  for- 
merly. We  have  better  laws,  better  institutions,  higher 
moral  standards,  more  of  liberty  and  less  of  lawlessness 
and  violence ;  and  these  changes  show  a  change  in  man 
himself.  The  world's  sensibilities  have  become  more 
tender,  there  is  greater  respect  for  the  rights  of  others, 
there  is  more  of  self-control,  there  has  been  progress  in 
men's  ideas,  there  are  higher  conceptions  of  life,  there 
is  spiritual  growth.  All  who  hold  with  Browning  that 

"...  man  was  born  to  grow,  not  stop," 

will  agree  that  his  growth  is  the  promise  of  a  perfected 
humanity.  And  this  prophecy  of  history  and  Revela- 
tion is  also  uttered  by  science. 

Many  who  would  not  accept  the  testimony  of  Darwin- 
ism as  to  the  origin  of  man  will  listen  to  its  prophecy 
concerning  his  destiny.  Mr.  John  Fiske  says' :  "  Accord- 
ing to  Darwinism,  the  creation  of  man  is  still  the  goal 
toward  which  nature  tended  from  the  beginning.  Not 
the  production  of  any  higher  creature,  but  the  perfect- 
ing of  humanity  is  to  be  the  glorious  consummation  of 
nature's  long  and  tedious  work."  "The  most  essential 
feature  of  man  is  his  improvableness,  and  since  his  first 
appearance  on  the  earth  the  changes  that  have  gone  on 
in  him  have  been  enormous,  though  they  have  contin- 
ued to  run  along  in  the  lines  of  development  that  were 
then  marked  out."  "  And  again' he  says':  "The  future 
is  lighted  for  us  with  the  radiant  colors  of  hope.  Strife 
and  sorrow  shall  disappear.  Peace  and  love  shall  reign 
supreme.  The  dream  of  poets,  the  lesson  of  priest  and 

1  The  Destiny  of  Man,  p.  31.         »  Ibid.  p.  71.         »  Ibid.  pp.  119, 103. 


22  THE  NEW  ERA. 

prophet,  the  inspiration  of  the  great  musician,  is  con- 
firmed in  the  light  of  modern  knowledge."  "  The  mod- 
ern prophet,  employing  the  methods  of  science,  may 
again  proclaim  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand." 
Thus  we  have  seen  that  the  constitution  of  man — his 
high  capabilities  afford  a  presumption  which  is  con- 
firmed by  Revelation,  history,  and  science  that  human- 
ity is  to  be  perfected. 

There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  world's  prog- 
ress toward  a  perfect  society  is  to  be  much  more  rapid 
in  the  future  than  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

It  was  pointed  out  above  that  the  development  of  the 
individual  and  the  organization  of  society  were  the  two 
fundamental  principles  in  the  history  of  civilization, 
the  two  lines  along  which  the  progress  of  the  race  could 
be  traced.1  Until  recent  times  the  conditions  most 
favorable  to  the  development  of  one  of  these  principles 
were  unfavorable  to  the  development  of  the  other. 
There  has,  therefore,  been  a  constant  tendency  to  sacri- 
fice the  one  to  the  other.  And  the  general  character  of 
the  civilization  of  a  nation  or  of  an  age  has  depended 
on  which  of  these  two  principles  was  dominant. 

A  low  form  of  individualism  with  little  or  no  organi- 
zation marks  the  savage.  A  low  form  of  individualism 
with  a  degree  more  of  social  organization  characterizes 
the  barbarian.  The  sacrifice  of  individuality  to  an 
extended  and  comparatively  high  social  organization 
results  in  a  civilization  like  that  of  ancient  Egypt, 
Assyria,  India,  and  China.  There  is  a  good  degree  of 
permanence,  but  with  it  stagnation.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sacrifice  of  organization  to  a  high  degree  of  indi- 
vidualism produced  the  wonderful  civilization  of  the 
Greeks — strangely  brilliant  and  as  strangely  brief. 

1  These  two  principles  spring  from  the  very  constitution  of  man  (as  will  he 
shown  in  a  later  chapter),  and  are,  therefore,  permanent.  They  not  only 
help  us  to  interpret  the  past,  but  should  aid  us  in  some  measure  to  anticipate 
and  shape  the  future.  Indeed,  they  seem  to  afford  the  true  key  to  history, 
though  I  find  no  recognition  of  them  in  Hegel,  Guizot,  Buckle,  Draper,  or 
any  other  writer  on  the  philosophy  of  history. 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  23 

The  principle  of  individualism  is  progressive,  that  of 
organization  is  conservative.  The  former  introduces 
the  new,  achieves  liberty,  and  insures  growth.  The 
latter  is  needed  to  adjust  the  new  to  the  old,  to  preserve 
order  and  insure  permanence. 

Here  we  see  the  fundamental  difference  between  the 
civilizations  of  Asia  and  those  of  Europe.  In  Asia  there 
have  been  vast  organizations  of  society,  but  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  was  early  arrested,  hence  the 
stagnation  of  everything.  Oriental  civilization  mani- 
fests unity  with  but  little  diversity,  hence  the  dead  uni- 
formity of  many  centuries.  Occidental  civilization 
illustrates  diversity  with  but  little  unity,  and  its  history 
records  revolutions  and  progress.  In  Europe  there  has 
been  a  marked  development  of  the  individual,  while  the 
various  organizations  of  society  have  been  much  less 
extended  and  much  less  permanent  than  those  of  Asia, 
though  of  a  higher  type  because  of  the  higher  develop- 
ment of  the  individual,  which  has  made  western  civil- 
ization progressive. 

The  high  table-lands  of  the  East,  unfavorable  to 
agriculture,  produced  pastoral  peoples  whose  wander- 
ing habits  prevented  any  organization  of  government 
or  society  more  extended  than  those  of  the  tribe.  And 
with  a  low  development  of  the  individual,  they  have 
remained  fixed  for  centuries  in  a  rude  barbarism. 

The  great  civilizations  of  Asia  have  arisen  in  the 
fertile  valleys  of  great  rivers  like  the  Euphrates  and 
the  Tigris,  the  Indus  and  the  Ganges,  the  Hoang-Ho 
and  the  Yang-tse-Kiang.  The  Nile  afforded  similar 
conditions  which  were  attended  with  like  results,  viz., 
the  production  of  a  numerous  and  homogeneous  people. 
Agriculture  produced  fixed  habits  and  a  local  habita- 
tion favorable  to  an  extended  organization  of  society. 
But  the  growth  of  a  tribe  into  a  numerous  people  of  the 
same  blood,  having  the  same  traditions  and  religion, 
the  same  habits  and  ideas,  living  under  the  same  laws 
and  conditions,  though  most  favorable  to  the  develop- 
ment of  organization,  was  least  favorable  to  the  de- 


24  THE  NEW  ERA. 

velopment  of  individuality.  There  were  lacking  the 
stimulating  contact  and  conflict  of  different  ideas,  in- 
stitutions, and  customs. 

European  civilization  has  been  produced  by  the  com- 
mingling and  conflict  of  many  diverse  elements. 

"  Mountains  interposed  make  enemies  of  mankind 
That  else,  like  kindred  drops,  had  mingled  into  one." 

Mountain  ranges  and  seas  have  separated  peoples 
sufficiently  to  favor  the  development  of  different  char- 
acteristics and  institutions,  but  have  been  unfavorable 
to  extended  empires  like  those  of  the  East,  though  they 
have  not  forbidden  that  intercourse  between  nations 
which  is  necessary  to  stimulate  them. 

Of  all  European  countries  Eussia  is  the  most  Asiatic 
in  its  physical  conditions  and  is  least  European  in  its 
civilization.  Here  we  find  the  extended  plain  and  a 
great  population  which  is  nearly  homogeneous;  for 
although  the  Czar  rules  over  many  races,  the  vast 
majority  of  his  subjects  are  Slavs.  As  in  Asia,  there 
is  a  most  extended  and  centralized  organization  to 
which  the  development  of  the  individual  is  sacrificed, 
making  civil  and  religious  liberty  impossible. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  conditions  which  have  pro- 
duced modern  European  civilization  have  been  most 
fully  realized  in  Great  Britain,  and  there  we  find  the 
highest  civilization,  the  largest  liberty  of  the  individ- 
ual, and  the  noblest  literature,  which  is  the  natural 
flower  of  a  high  individuality. 

Greece  and  China  afford  the  best  possible  illustrations 
of  the  high  development  of  one  of  these  principles  at 
the  expense  of  the  other.  The  former  cultivated  the 
bodily  and  intellectual  powers  of  the  individual  to  the 
highest  degree.  But  the  competition  and  rivalry  be- 
tween tribes  and  cities  and  citizens  of  the  same  city 
which  contributed  so  much  to  Grecian  individualism 
created  a  spirit  of  independence  and  jealousy  which 
made  impossible  that  organization  of  government  and 
society  which  are  essential  to  strength  and  permanence. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  Chinese  were 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  25 

all  run  in  the  same  mould,  and  each  generation  were 
a  weary  repetition  of  the  preceding.  There  is  a  uni- 
formity which  is  favorable  to  far-reaching  organization 
but  fatal  to  individuality;  and  where  there  is  no  indi- 
viduality there  can  be  no  progress.  China  has  stood 
for  many  centuries  with  her  back  to  the  future.  A 
patent  of  nobility  elevates  not  the  unborn  descendants 
but  the  dead  ancestors.  As  Hegel  says:  "The  China- 
man first  counts  for  something  when  he  is  dead." 
Such  a  civilization  furnishes  the  most  striking  example 
of  conservatism  and  permanence. 

Pericles,  who  lived  some  sixty-five  or  seventy  years, 
was  contemporary  with  ^Eschylus,  Miltiades,  Thernis- 
tocles,  Aristides,  Zeno,  Anaxagoras,  Protagoras,  Anti- 
phon,  Sophocles,  Eupolis,  Euripides,  Phidias,  Myron, 
Thucydides,  Socrates,  Hippocrates,  Lysias,  Xenophon, 
Isocrates,  Aristophanes,  and  Cratinus,  half  of  whom 
were  born  in  Athens  and  all  of  whom  at  some  time 
made  Athens  their  home.  And  of  this  wonderful 
galaxy  of  statesmen,  generals,  orators,  philosophers, 
poets,  historians,  and  artists,  whose  names  will  remain 
forever  luminous,  at  least  ten,  and  possibly  fourteen, 
were  living  at  one  and  the  same  time  in  this  little  city 
of  about  30,000  citizens. 

The  population  of  China  to-day  is  sufficient  to  furnish 
inhabitants  for  some  thousands  of  cities  like  the  Athens 
of  Pericles;  and  there  have  lived  and  died  Chinese 
enough  to  people  the  whole  earth  over  and  over  again, 
and  yet  all  of  these  thousands  of  millions  have  not 
given  to  the  world  as  many  great  men  as  were  living  in 
this  Grecian  city  at  one  time.  But  the  civilization  of 
ancient  Greece  is  now  only  a  glorious  memory,  while 
China,  still  a  power,  reckons  her  life  by  millenniums. 

This  same  disposition  to  sacrifice  one  of  these  two 
fundamental  principles  to  the  other  asserts  itself  in  the 
religious  as  well  as  in  the  political  and  social  world. 
And  as  the  dominance  of  the  one  principle  over  the 
other  marks  the  essential  difference  between  the  civil- 
ization of  Europe  and  that  of  Asia,  it  also  constitutes 


26  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  fundamental  difference  between  Protestantism  and 
Romanism.  The  latter  gathers  its  more  than  200,000,000 
souls,  scattered  over  all  lands,  into  one  vast  and  cen- 
tralized organization,  whose  head  exercises  absolute 
authority,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Vatican  Council, 
is  possessed  of  "all  the  fulness  of  supreme  power"  over 
all  "things  which  belong  to  faith  and  morals"  and 
"that  pertain  to  the  discipline  and  government  of  the 
church."  '  This  of  course  disallows  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  denies  the  liberty  of  conscience,  and  to  a 
great  degree  suppresses  individuality. 

Protestantism  was  a  reaction  against  the  absolutism 
of  Rome,  and  at  length  achieved  religious  liberty.  It 
was  a  development  of  individualism  accompanied  with 
more  or  less  of  disorganization.  Evidently  Roman 
Catholics  are  the  Chinese,  and  Protestants  are  the 
Greeks,  of  the  religious  world.  On  the  one  hand  there 
is  the  sacrifice  of  individuality  and  with  it  the  loss  of 
liberty,  but  there  is  the  strength  and  permanence  which 
spring  from  a  consummate  organization.  On  the  other 
hand  we  find  the  progress,  the  liberty,  the  originality, 
the  noble  literature2  which  always  accompany  a  highly- 
developed  individuality,  but  there  is  also  the  weakness 
of  disorganization  and  of  rival  sects. 

Luther  had  vindicated  the  one  principle.  Loyola, 
seeking  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  Reformation, 
emphasized  the  correlative  principle.  Accordingly  in 
the  order  of  the  Jesuits  there  is  the  highest  organiza- 
tion and  a  complete  centralization  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  general  of  the  order,  who  is  absolute.  The 
individual  will  is  as  nearly  as  possible  extinguished. 

Thus  Protestantism  and   Romanism,   European  and 

1  See  the  First  Dogmatic  Constitution  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  Chap.  III. 

a  Poetry  is  probably  the  most  perfect  expression  of  a  well-grown  individ- 
uality. It  is,  therefore,  significant  that  the  Roman  Catholic  world  with  its 
vast  numbers  has  produced  but  one  poet  of  the  first  rank;  and  Dante  was 
in  spirit  a  Protestant.  He  dared  to  do  his  own  thinking. 

There  was  a  singular  dearth  of  poets  in  the  world  for  1000  years  until  the 
Renaissance,  which  was  a  revolt  from  the  long  bondage  of  ecclesiastical  and 
political  despotism. 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  27 

Asiatic  civilization  and  the  various  periods  in  the  de- 
velopment of  European  civilization  (see  Chap.  I)  have 
all  been  shoAvn  to  illustrate  the  tendency  to  sacrifice 
one  of  these  two  principles  to  the  other,  both  of  which 
are  alike  necessary.  The  progress  of  civilization  has 
been  slow  because  the  conditions  most  favorable  to  the 
development  of  one  of  these  principles  have  been  least 
favorable  to  the  development  of  the  other.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  significance  that  now  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  the  race  the  same  causes  are  favorable  to  the 
development  of  both.  I  refer  to  steam  and  electricity. 
These  are  the  forces  which  in  recent  years  have  so 
prodigiously  stimulated  organization  in  all  directions. 
They  make  the  social  organization  and  government  of 
65,000,000  people  inhabiting  a  continent  to-day  far 
easier  and  simpler  than  the  social  organization  and 
government  of  4,000,000  people  occupying  one  tenth  the 
present  area  a  hundred  years  ago.  At  the  same  time 
these  forces  operating  through  the  press  and  commerce 
are  bringing  all  civilizations  into  touch  and  creating  a 
universal  rivalry,  are  making  the  world  a  forum,  thus 
producing  the  stimulus  of  a  perpetual  conflict  of  ideas, 
which  constitute  the  most  favorable  conditions  for  the 
development  of  the  individual.  In  a  word,  these  great 
forces  which  are  now  exerting  so  profound  an  influence 
on  civilization  are  far  more  favorable  to  organization 
than  the  conditions  which  produced  the  vast  organiza- 
tions of  Asia,  and  at  the  same  time  much  more  stimu- 
lating to  the  individual  than  those  conditions  which 
produced  the  individualism  of  Europe.  Surely  such  a 
change,  harnessing  together  to  the  chariot  of  the 
world's  progress  these  two  principles  which  for  thou- 
sands of  years  have  drawn,  now  one  and  then  the  other, 
but  never  together,  and  often  against  each  other,  is  so 
profoundly  significant  that  it  marks  nothing  less  than 
the  beginning  of  a  NEW  ERA  in  the  history  of  the  race. 

Thus  far  the  race  has  been,  like  Mephibosheth,  lame 
in  both  its  feet.  It  has  hobbled  along  now  on  one  foot 
and  now  on  the  other.  It  shall  yet  run  in  the  way  of 


TUB  NEW  ERA. 

God's  commandments,  which  is  the  path  of  swiftest 
progress. 

From  the  fact  that  the  one  principle  has  heretofore 
been  sacrificed  to  the  other  we  might  hastily  infer  that  a 
highly-developed  social  organization  is  inconsistent  with 
highly-developed  individuality.  Indeed,  socialists  and 
individualists  are  apt  to  assume  that  the  two  are  mutu- 
ally exclusive.  But  there  is  no  necessary  conflict  be- 
tween these  two  principles ;  instead,  the  perfect  develop- 
ment of  the  one  is  dependent  on  the  perfect  development 
of  the  other,  and  an  absolutely  perfect  society  would  ex- 
hibit the  two  working  together  in  absolute  harmony. 
The  great  problem  of  civilization,  therefore,  toward  the 
solution  of  which  our  progress  in  the  future  is  to  be  so 
much  more  rapid  than  it  has  been  in  the  past  is  the 
entire  co-ordination  of  these  two  principles.  Of  such 
co-ordination  nature  furnishes  abundant  examples.  Or- 
ganization implies  a  difference  of  parts,  and  the  higher 
the  organization  the  greater  that  difference.  The 
higher  the  rank  of  an  organism  in  the  animal  world 
the  more  specialized  are  its  separate  organs.  The  like 
ought  to  be  true  and  may  be  true  in  society ;  the  more 
individualized  its  members  the  higher  may  be  its  or- 
ganization. This  is  happily  illustrated  by  President 
Seth  Low  from  the  art  of  printing:  "  Only  when  the 
type  had  been  individualized,  only  when  each  type 
came  to  represent  a  single  letter,  was  the  era  of  com- 
bination reached.  So  now,  as  I  conceive,  we  have 
reached  in  human  society,  and  in  this  country  in  its 
highest  form,  the"  era  of  combination." ' 

Of  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  savage  state,  all  the  men 
have  the  same  attainments.  There  is  little  difference 
except  of  degree.  Each  can  make  his  own  clothes,  his 
wigwam  and  his  weapons,  can  procure  his  food  and 
cook  it.  He  is  independent,  but  of  no  service  to  the 
tribe  except  that  he  counts  one  more  fighting  man.  The 
civilized  man,  to  clothe,  house,  and  feed  himself,  em- 

i  Address  on  "  The  Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Capital  and  Labor  Ques- 
tion "  at  the  Conference  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  Washington,  Dec-  1887. 


THE  DESTINY   OF  THE  RACE.  29 

ploys. the  labor  of  many  hundreds  or  thousands.  The 
more  individualized  he  is  the  more  dependent  upon 
society  he  becomes  and  the  more  important  to  society. 
In  an  organization  each  part  increases  the  effectiveness 
of  all  the  other  parts.  All  parts,  therefore,  become  more 
or  less  dependent  on  each ;  and  the  greater  the  depend- 
ence of  these  parts  on  each  other  the  greater,  of  course, 
is  their  importance  to  each  other.  Thus  civilization  has 
increased  both  the  dependence  and  the  importance  of 
the  individual.  And  the  more  highly  society  becomes 
organized  the  greater  should  be  the  individuality  and 
the  importance  of  every  being  composing  it. 

I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  organization  of  society 
and  the  development  of  the  individual  are  not  conflict- 
ing, but  correlative,  principles;  and  that  the  world's 
progress  is  likely  to  be  much  more  rapid  than  it  has 
been  because  the  great  forces  of  modern  civilization  are 
calculated  to  stimulate  the  development  of  both  of 
these  principles.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  time  has 
fully  come  when  men  should  intelligently  aid  this  de- 
velopment. 

The  world's  progress  is  neither  fortuitous  nor  arbi- 
trary, but  subject  to  the  laws  of  growth.  It  does  not 
follow,  therefore,  as  some  have  supposed,  that  the 
progress  of  the  race  cannot  be  helped  forward  by 
human  intelligence.  In  the  vegetable  and  animal  king- 
doms we  have  ten  thousand  proofs  that  men  can  stimu- 
late and  direct  growth  through  a  knowledge  of  its  laws. 
It  is  precisely  because  the  development  of  humanity  is 
subject  to  laws  that  it  may  be  in  some  measure  under- 
stood and  quickened.  The  world's  progress,  while  un- 
questionably real,  has  heretofore  been  slow  because  men 
have  failed  to  discover  and  obey  the  laws  of  progress. 
The  race  has  stumbled  along  in  the  dark.  Its  upward 
movement  has  been  too  much  like  that  of  the  brute 
creation,  unintelligent,  unintended,  the  unforeseen  re- 
sults of  conflicting  forces,  and  attended  with  measure- 
less suffering. 


30  THE  NEW  ERA. 

The  intelligent  and  benevolent  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse must  have  a  plan  of  life  for  the  race  and  for  every 
member  of  it;  the  best  possible  plan,  not  one  that  is 
absolute,  because  man  is  a  free  agent,  but  conditioned 
— a  plan  that  will  be  wrought  out  as  far  and  as  fast  as 
men  co-operate  with  God.  Thus  far  men  have  gener- 
ally worked  out  the  divine  plan  blindly.  The  great 
forward  steps  of  the  race  have  been  taken  unintelli- 
gently.  When  the  flood  of  barbarians  swept  down 
upon  Southern  Europe  it  wrought  both  devastation  and 
purification.  The  former  was  the  object  of  the  bar- 
barians, the  latter  was  in  the  plan  of  God.  This  letting 
of  fresh  and  healthy  blood  into  the  veins  of  an  effete 
civilization,  without  which  modern  Europe  and  America 
would  have  been  impossible,  was  not  intended  by  man. 
The  object  of  the  Crusades,  which  for  two  hundred 
years  emptied  Europe  upon  Asia,  was  puerile  and  its 
attainment  of  no  consequence  to  civilization ;  but  their 
results,  which  110  man  foresaw,  were  profound  and 
beneficent.  The  triumph  of  monarchy  over  the  feudal 
system,  which  by  centralizing  power  made  possible  the 
better  organization  of  society  and  thus  gave  an  impetus 
to  civilization,  sprang  not  from  a  love  of  humanity  on 
the  part  of  a  few  great  nobles,  but  from  the  love  of 
power  which  circumstances  made  it  possible  to  gratify. 
The  policy  of  the  East  India  Company  was  dictated  by 
the  most  sordid  selfishness,  but  it  was  providentially 
used  to  introduce  Christianity  and  western  civilization 
into  the  heart  of  Asia.  Thus  men  in  all  ages  have 
builded  for  the  race  more  wisely  than  they  knew,  after 
the  unseen  plan  of  the  divine  Architect.  And  if  God 
can  thus  make  the  ignorance  and  selfishness  and  wrath 
of  men  to  praise  him,  how  much  more  their  glad  and 
intelligent  obedience  of  his  laws  ?  Science,  which  is  a 
revelation  of  God's  laws  and  methods,  enables  us  to  fall 
into  his  plans  intentionally  and  to  co-operate  with  him 
intelligently  for  the  perfecting  of  mankind,  thus  hasten- 
ing forward  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  true  that 
the  goal  of  our  desires  and  endeavors  is  very  remote, 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RAGE.  31 

but  if  the  way  is  so  long,  that  is  only  the  more  reason 
why  we  should  mend  our  pace. 

The  progress  of  the  race  in  the  future  as  in  the  past 
must  be  along  these  same  two  lines,  the  development  of 
the  individual  and  the  organization  of  society.  Let  us 
dwell  for  a  moment  on  each.' 

The  development  of  the  individual  should  be  harmo- 
nious; that  is,  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  or 
spiritual  growths  should  keep  pace  with  each  other. 
The  growth  of  the  higher  seems  to  be  limited  by  that 
of  the  lower.  A  great  mental  or  spiritual  development 
is  impossible  where  there  is  a  low  cerebral  develop- 
ment. The  cranial  capacity  of  the  Australian  is  forty 
cubic  inches  less  than  that  of  the  European.  It  would 
be  impossible  to  raise  the  intellectual  life  of  the  former 
to  that  of  the  latter  until  his  brain  had  been  equally 
developed. 

Brain  power  is  indicated  not  only  by  the  size  of  the 
organ  but  also  by  the  extent  of  cerebral  surface,  which 
by  means  of  furrows  may  be  enormously  increased. 
"The  cerebral  surface  of  a  human  infant  is  like  that  of 
an  ape.  In  an  adult  savage,  or  in  a  European  peasant, 
the  furrowing  is  somewhat  marked  and  complicated. 
In  the  brain  of  a  great  scholar  the  furrows  are  very 
deep  and  crooked,  and  hundreds  of  creases  appear 
which  are  not  found  at  all  in  the  brains  of  ordinary 
men."  "  These  facts  illustrate  the  closeness  of  the  rela- 
tions between  mind  and  body,  and  show  that  if  we 
desire  a  large  superstructure  we  must  have  a  corre- 
spondingly large  foundation. 

Science  is  constantly  giving  us  new  data  for  a  higher 
estimate  of  the  dignity  and  worth  of  the  human  body. 
It  is  the  most  marvellous  product  in  the  material  world. 
4 '  All  creative  processes  from  the  beginning  looked  for- 
ward to  this  result.  The  gradual  unfolding  of  life  from 

1  Practical  methods  of  quickening  the  movement  of  the  race  along  these 
two  lines  of  progress,  thus  co-operating  intelligently  with  the  divine  plans, 
will  be  presented  in  later  chapters. 

'  Fiske's  Destiny  of  Man,  p.  49. 


32  THE  NEW  ERA. 

its  beginnings  through  the  whole  series  of  its  structures 
had  reference  to  this  wondrous  fabric  which  was  to 
crown  the  series.  Each  one  has  contributed  something 
to  its  beauty  and  perfection.  The  human  body  is  a 
microcosm  of  the  universe.  The  more  minutely  it  is 
studied,  the  more  its  hidden  depths  are  penetrated  by 
the  microscope,  the  greater  are  the  wonders  revealed. 
It  is  now  known  that  the  human  soul  within  it  domi- 
nates not  only  a  life,  but  a  whole  kingdom  of  lives — an 
empire  with  provinces  and  principalities  and  powers, 
with  armies  and  hosts  of  sentient  creatures,  each  hold- 
ing some  position  of  service  and  performing  some  use- 
ful function  in  the  organization."  ' 

The  race  can  never  be  perfected  until  there  is  much 
greater  respect  for  the  human  body.  Many  who  do  not 
lack  self-respect  hold  their  bodies,  or  at  least  the  laws 
which  govern  them,  almost  in  contempt.  This  is  an  in- 
heritance from  many  centuries.  There  early  appeared 
a  disposition  on  the  part  of  Christians  to  depreciate  the 
body,  due  probably  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  word 
"flesh,"  which  occurs  so  often  in  the  New  Testament. 
It  has  been  supposed  that  there  is  an  antipathy  between 
the  spiritual  and  the  physical— that  if  the  former  is  to 
be  cultivated  the  latter  must  be  depressed  and  depleted. 
Hence  the  mortification  of  the  Roman  Catholic  saints. 

Of  course  the  pampering  of  bodily  appetites  is  fatal 
to  spirituality;  and  this  having  been  discovered  it  was 
not  strange  that  Christians  in  the  midst  of  animalism 
should  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  asceticism.  The 
depletion  of  the  body  is  doubtless  conducive  to  that 
nervous  state  in  which  men  see  visions  and  experience 
ecstasies,  which  have  been  so  long  mistaken  for  evi- 
dence of  exalted  piety.  But  if  the  true  Christian  aim 
is  service,  not  ecstasy,  then  that  is  the  most  Christian 
treatment  of  the  body  which  fits  it  for  the  most  perfect, 
the  most  abounding,  the  longest-continued  service  in 
upbuilding  the  kingdom  of  God. 

'  I.,  C.  Baker. 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  33 

Ever  since  Christ  dignified  our  human  nature  by 
assuming  it,  man's  body  has  been  the  temple  of  God. 
Surely  we  cannot  honor  God  by  dishonoring  his  tem- 
ple ;  and  surely  it  is  a  desecration  of  that  temple  to  dis- 
regard the  laws  which  God  has  laid  down  for  its  gov- 
ernment and  preservation.  Yet  multitudes  who  would 
shudder  at  the  thought  of  committing  sacrilege  do  not 
hesitate  to  desecrate  this  living  temple  of  God. 

In  every  age  men  have  lavished  treasure,  toil,  and 
genius  on  their  temples.  It  is  a  far  nobler  ambition 
and  a  more  acceptable  service  to  strive  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  God's  living  temple.  I  do  not  refer  simply  to  the 
perfecting  of  an  individual,  but  to  the  perfecting  of  the 
race. 

Christians  as  such  ought  to  have  a  great  longing  to 
see  man  perfected  in  body  and  soul.  To  see  a  human 
being  stunted  by  overwork  or  lack  of  food,  or  one 
blotched  and  bloated  by  sin,  ought  to  hurt  like  a  blow. 
It  is  a  wrong  inflicted  on  the  race,  against  which  every 
member  of  it  has  a  right  to  protest. 

Many  sin  against  their  own  bodies,  saying,  "I  will 
take  the  consequences."  But  the  matter  does  not  end 
there.  He  who  wrongs  his  own  body  has  no  monopoly 
of  the  consequences.  Every  sin  against  the  body  by 
one  who  is  ever  to  become  a  parent  is  a  sin  against  the 
race  which  postpones  the  day  of  its  perfection,  and  so 
prolongs  its  period  of  sin  and  suffering. 

Among  those  for  whom  I  write  it  goes  without  saying 
that  the  training  of  mind  and  heart  are  essential  to  the 
development  of  the  race.  I  have  dwelt  on  the  impor- 
tance of  perfecting  the  body  because  its  training  is 
much  more  apt  to  be  neglected.  We  devote  laborious 
years  to  informing  and  strengthening  the  mind,  but  not 
one  in  a  hundred  of  our  population  has  been  given  a 
course  of  physical  training.  The  state  insists  on  the 
intelligence  of  the  child,  but  good  health  is  not  made 
compulsory,  though  well-formed  bodies  are  no  less  im- 
portant to  the  public  weal  than  well-informed  minds, 
and  as  surely  result  from  intelligent  training. 


34  THE  NEW  ERA. 

It  is  easy  to  make  the  mistake  of  cultivating  only 
a  fraction  of  our  nature.  The  Greeks  developed  the 
most  perfect  intellect  and  the  most  perfect  body;  but 
their  civilization  failed  because  there  was  no  corre- 
sponding development  of  the  spiritual  nature.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  have  been  centuries  when,  excepting 
ecclesiastics  who  had  some  learning,  all  training  was 
addressed  to  the  spiritual  nature,  to  the  total  neglect  of 
mind  and  body.  Says  Dr.  Schaff :'  "The  Renaissance 
drew  its  inspiration  from  the  poets  and  philosophers  of 
ancient  Greece  and  Rome;  the  Reformation,  from  the 
apostles  and  ^evangelists.  The  Renaissance  aimed  at 
the  development  of  the  natural  man ;  the  Reformation, 
at  the  renewal  of  the  spiritual  man.  The  Renaissance 
looked  down  upon  earth,  the  Reformation  looked  up  to 
heaven."  We  need  a  Reformation  and  Renaissance 
combined,  which  shall  draw  its  inspiration  from  Christ 
himself,  the  perfect  man,  which  shall  aim  at  perfecting 
the  entire  nature,  "body,  soul,  and  spirit,"  and  which  in 
order  to  look  up  to  heaven  will  not  have  to  look  away 
from  earth,  but  which  will  bring  heaven  down  to  earth 
by  making  the  will  of  God  the  joyfully-accepted  law  of 
the  one  even  as  it  is  of  the  other. 

Christian  civilization,  though  on  the  whole  the  most 
powerful  force  for  uplifting  humanity,  in  some  respects 
tends  directly  toward  the  enfeeblement  of  the  stock. 
Says  Mr.  Darwin2:  "With  savages,  the  weak  in  body 
or  mind  are  soon  eliminated;  and  those  that  survive 
commonly  exhibit  a  vigorous  state  of  health.  We  civ- 
ilized men,  on  the  other  hand,  do  our  utmost  to  check 
the  progress  of  elimination;  we  build  asylums  for  the 
imbecile,  the  maimed,  and  the  sick ;  we  institute  poor- 
laws  ;  and  our  medical  men  exert  their  greatest  skill  to 
save  the  life  of  every  one  to  the  last  moment.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  vaccination  has  preserved  thou- 
sands who,  from  a  weak  constitution,  would  formerly 

1  "  Renaissance  and  Reformation."    A  paper  read  at  the  Florence  Confer- 
ence of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  April,  1891. 

2  Descent  of  Man,  Vol.  I.  p.  168. 


THE  DESTINY  Of  THE  KACE.  35 

have  succumbed  to  small-pox.  Thus  the  weak  members 
of  civilized  societies  propagate  their  kind.  No  one  who 
has  attended  to  the  breeding  of  domestic  animals  will 
doubt  that  this  must  be  highly  injurious  to  the  race.  It 
is  surprising  how  soon  a  want  of  care,  or  care  wrongly 
directed,  leads  to  the  degeneration  of  a  domestic  race ; 
but,  excepting  in  the  case  of  man  himself,  hardly  any 
one  is  so  ignorant  as  to  allow  his  worst  animals  to 
breed." 

And  civilization  not  only  preserves  the  defective 
classes  and  permits  them  to  propagate  their  kind,  it 
also  tends  to  reduce  the  fecundity  of  the  more  highly 
cultivated.  The  poor  are  apt  to  have  large  families,  the 
rich  small.  "Cherry  Street"  (New  York)  has  been 
shown  to  be  much  more  prolific  than  "  Fifth  Avenue." 
It  is  in  the  "East  End"  and  not  among  the  palaces  of 
West  London  that  children  swarm.  The  Mountain 
Whites  of  the  South,  who  are  little  more  than  semi- 
civilized,  do  not  count  a  family  of  a  dozen  or  fourteen 
members  large ;  and  sometimes  there  are  found  twenty 
or  more  children  of  one  mother.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
hear  laments  that  the  old  New  England  stock  is  dying 
out.  Certainly  the  families  of  that  stock  are  much 
smaller  than  they  were  a  few  generations  ago  and 
afford  a  painful  contrast  to  those  of  alien  blood  who 
are  transforming  New  England  into  a  New  Ireland  or 
New  France.  Whatever  subordinate  causes  may  be 
operative,  a  sufficient  explanation  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  the  stock  referred  to  is  highly  civilized  and  becom- 
ing more  so  with  each  generation.  It  seems  to  be  a 
general  law  of  life  from  the  lowest  forms '  to  the  highest 
that  as  the  scale  of  being  rises  fecundity  decreases. 
Speaking  of  the  increasing  brain  power  of  the  race, 
Herbert  Spencer  says2:  "We  must  conceive  the  type 

1  Bacteria  are  capable  of  an  increase  which  fairly  "  shames  the  multi- 
plication-table." It  has  been  estimated  that  a  single  germ,  under  favorable 
conditions,  may  in  two  days  produce  281,500,000,000  bacteria— nearly  200 
times  as  many  as  the  population  of  the  globe. 

*  Principles  of  Biology,  Vol.  II.  p.  520. 


36  THE  NEW  ERA. 

gradually  so  modified  that  the  more  developed  nervoua 
system  irresistibly  draws  off,  for  its  normal  and  en- 
forced activities,  a  larger  proportion  of  the  common 
stock  of  nutriment,  and  while  thus  increasing  the  in- 
tensity, completeness,  and  length  of  the  individual  life, 
necessarily  diminishing  the  reserve  applicable  to  the 
setting  up  of  new  lives." 

Now  it  is  evident  that  the  race  cannot  afford  to  have 
itself  propagated  by  its  poorest  representatives.  This  is 
the  survival  of  the  unfittest.  The  replenishing  of  popu- 
lations by  the  more  ignorant  and  degraded  does  much 
to  counterbalance  all  of  the  efforts  to  uplift  the  race 
made  by  the  better  and  smaller  elements  of  society. 
But  so  long  as  the  greater  fecundity  of  the  lower  is  a 
general  law  of  nature,  the  only  way  to  obviate  this  evil  is 
to  elevate  the  lower  classes.  And,  it  may  be  remarked 
in  passing,  this  seems  to  be  the  only  escape  from  the 
gloomy  conclusions  of  the  Malthusian  theory.  Elevate 
the  masses,  and  the  rate  of  increase  of  the  race  will  be 
correspondingly  reduced. 

Moreover  this  greater  fruitfulness  of  the  lower  strata 
of  society  (lower  as  to  brain  development)  will  gain 
added  significance  as  democracy  triumphs  more  and 
more  widely  in  the  world.  If,  therefore,  from  no 
higher  or  more  Christian  motive,  the  better  elements  of 
society,  the  "higher  classes,"  must  in  self-defence  level 
up  the  lower. 

The  organization  of  society,  like  the  development  of 
the  individual,  should  be  harmonious.  There  should  be 
a  certain  parity  of  growth  or  balance  preserved  in  the 
physical,  the  intellectual,  and  the  spiritual  development 
of  society.  The  order  of  development  is  like  that  of  the 
individual ;  as  St.  Paul  said,  first  that  which  is  natural 
and  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual.  The  progress  of 
material  civilization  during  this  century  has  been  be- 
yond all  comparison.  The  multiplication  of  inventions, 
the  control  of  natural  forces,  the  utilization  of  nature's 
resources,  in  short,  the  mastery  of  physical  conditions 
within  the  memory  of  some  still  living,  has  no  doubt 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  37 

been  greater  than  that  during  the  entire  preceding  his- 
tory of  the  race.  Massachusetts  may  with  ease  and 
dispatch  exchange  her  manufactures  for  the  coal  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  fruits  of  Florida,  the  sugar  of  Louisi- 
ana, the  cotton  of  Texas,  the  beef  of  Nebraska,  the 
wheat  of  the  Dakotas,  and  the  gold  of  California.  We 
seem  to  have  mastered  the  physical  conditions  neces- 
sary for  a  perfectly  organized  social  life. 

In  nature,  from  the  lowest  forms  of  life  to  the  high- 
est, the  higher  organization  is  accompanied  with  a 
higher  intelligence ;  so  in  society,  as  relations  are  multi- 
plied, become  more  delicate  and  farther-reaching,  there 
must  be  a  corresponding  increase  of  intelligence  to  pre- 
serve and  direct  the  more  complex  organization. 
There  is  now  a  rapidly  growing  interest  in  the  "  science 
of  society,"  though  when  Robert  Owen  invented  the 
phrase  it  was  regarded  as  absurd  and  many  thought  it 
actually  wicked.  We  are  beginning  to  see  that  God's 
methods  are  scientific,  and,  if  we  would  co-operate  intel- 
ligently with  him,  our  methods  must  be  scientific  also. 
Good  intentions  are  not  enough,  as  the  English  poor- 
laws  and  their  results  clearly  show.  Purity  of  motive 
can  no  more  absolve  from  the  penalties  of  violated 
sociological  laws  than  it  can  suspend  the  operation  of 
gravitation.  It  has  been  said  with  some  truth  and 
more  wit  that  ' '  in  this  world  a  large  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  wise  is  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the  good." 
Ignorant  and  blundering  goodness  is  often  as  mischiev- 
ous as  well-schooled  villainy.  A  big  heart  is  not  all 
that  is  necessary  to  make  a  successful  philanthropist. 

The  progress  of  science  is  disseminating  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  life  and  of  social  well-being,  thus  making 
it  easier  for  "  the  good  "  to  become  "  the  wise."  Prog- 
ress in  the  science  of  statistics  is  most  encouraging. 
The  government  census,  when  properly  taken,  is  an  in- 
valuable contribution  to  the  progress  of  society.  For 
lack  of  it,  until  recent  times,  much  of  the  experience  of 
the  race  has  been  wasted.  Generation  after  generation 
has  repeated  the  mistakes  of  its  predecessors,  at  a 


38  THE  NEW  ERA. 

dreadful  cost  of  suffering  and  loss,  which  was  as  need- 
less as  it  would  be  for  ships,  in  clear  weather,  to  split 
on  rocks  known  to  sailors  for  centuries.  How  much 
progress  would  navigation  ever  have  made  if  navi- 
gators had  kept  no  log  and  made  no  charts  ?  The 
national  census  is  the  log-book  of  the  ship  of  state. 
The  various  labor  bureaus,  national  and  state,  together 
with  the  census  bureau,  which  should  by  all  means  be 
made  permanent,  are  preparing  the  way  for  scientific 
legislation  and  scientific  philanthropy. 

But  a  well-grown  and  healthy  moral  and  spiritual  life 
is  as  essential  to  a  noble  and  enduring  social  organiza- 
tion as  is  a  high  degree  of  intelligence.  In  a  noble 
social  organization  there  must  be  liberty  as  well  as  law. 
As  we  have  seen,  among  the  Chinese  personal  liberty  is 
sacrificed  to  organization,  while  among  the  Greeks 
organization  was  largely  sacrificed  to  personal  liberty. 
Yet  the  two  are  by  no  means  inconsistent  with  each 
other.  As  Professor  Peabody  of  Harvard  happily  says : 
"True  liberty  is  the  discovery  of  one's  place  in  the 
universal  organism."  But  the  acceptance  of  our  place 
in  the  universal  organism  involves  our  entering  into 
right  relations  with  our  fellow-men  and  with  God, 
which  is  the  acceptance  of  all  moral  and  spiritual  obli- 
gations and  which  indicates  a  healthy  moral  and  spir- 
itual nature.  This  was  the  great  and  fatal  lack  of 
Grecian  character  and  civilization.  If  there  had  been  a 
harmonious  development  of  the  individual,  if  the  moral 
and  spiritual  life  had  been  as  vigorous  as  the  intellect- 
ual and  physical,  they  would  doubtless  have  been  able 
to  perfect  their  organization  and  render  their  civiliza- 
tion permanent. 

We  have  seen  that  physical  conditions  seem  favorable 
to  the  highest  organization  of  society.  We  have  also 
seen  that  there  is  increasing  intelligence  in  regard  to 
the  laws  of  social  life.  We  seem  to  possess  all  the 
means  which  the  intellectual  life  of  a  perfect  social 
organization  would  require  for  its  exercise  and  expres- 
sion. Here  are  the  telegraph  for  communication,  the 


THE  DESTINY  OF  THE  RACE.  39 

press  for  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box  through  which 
intelligence  is  brought  to  bear  on  government— or  at 
least  may  be.  But  what  of  the  moral  and  religious  life 
of  society  ?  The  church  is  the  especial  guardian  of 
those  interests,  but  it  is  shattered  into  scores  of  frag- 
ments. Its  body  is  dismembered,  and  the  eye  says  to 
the  hand,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee;"  and  the  head  says 
to  the  feet,  "I  have  no  need  of  you."  The  church 
among  us  has  no  organized  life.  The  social  conscience 
should  control  the  entire  life  of  the  social  organism,  but 
there  is  no  organization  through  which  it  can  express 
itself.  Assuredly  the  great  need  of  society  to-day,  and 
the  most  essential  condition  on  which  it  can  rise  to  a 
higher  organization,  is  a  larger  development  of  its 
moral  and  spiritual  life,  together  with  some  means  by 
which  this  highest  and  rightfully  regnant  part  of  the 
social  organism — the  social  conscience — may  be  brought 
into  vital  and  controlling  touch  with  the  entire  intel- 
lectual and  physical  life  of  society. 

When  the  social  conscience,  properly  enlightened, 
thus  actually  rules  the  organized  life  of  men,  social  1  ^ 
wrongs  will  disappear,  the  strifes  of  classes  and  of  races  I 
will  cease,  and  wars  will  be  no  more.  "When  such  / 
states  are  formed  and  compacted,  as  incorporeal  com- 
plex persons,  under  the  governing  Christian  law  of 
justice  and  of  charity,  then  shall  be  accomplished  what 
the  Roman  Empire  grossly  prefigured  when,  in  the 
amazing  development  of  its  force — as  under  some 
brooding  Providence  above— it  flung  forth  its  avenues 
toward  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  sought  to  bind  all 
peoples  together  under  the  power  which  ruled  from  the 
Tiber:  what  Charlemagne  perhaps  dimly  contemplated, 
in  the  splendid  rashness  of  his  colossal  and  impractica- 
ble plan,  when  he  sought  to  re-establish  the  Western 
Empire  with  more  august  sanctions  and  in  a  richer 
religious  life,  over  the  Europe  which  had  replaced  the 
old :  what  Napoleon  the  First  sketched  in  a  sort  of  lurid 
caricature  on  the  canvas  of  history  when  he  rushed 
abroad  with  what  appeared  irresistible  legions,  for  the 


40 


THE  NEW  ERA. 


conquest  of  the  Continent  and  the  combination  of  its 
several  kingdoms  under  the  sovereign  leadership  of 
France.  A  plan  surpassing  all  of  these,  as  the  bending 
sky  surpasses  the  clouds  which  drift  across  it  —  even 
that  will  have  been  realized  when  the  different  nations, 
each  on  its  untroubled  territory,  each  with  its  idioms  of 
custom,  law,  as  well  as  language,  and  each  with  its 
peculiar  life,  shall  be  united  in  the  bonds  of  a  peace 
which  knows  no  suspicion  and  admits  no  suspension, 
because  it  results  from  the  voluntary  subjection  of  each 
and  all  to  a  Law  universal  :  whose  authority  is  conceded 
because  a  Divine  majesty  and  charm  are  recognized  in 
it."  '  Then  will  be  realized  amid  the  diversity  of  earth's 
peoples  and  kindreds  and  tongues  a  blessed  unity  more 
glorious  than  that  which  binds  the  suns  and  systems  of 
countless  constellations  into  one  harmonious  whole. 
Then  will  come  the  glad  consummation  for  which  the 
ages  have  waited,  which  prophets  have  foreseen  and 
poets  sung,  for  which  the  good  have  longed  and  labored 
and  martyrs  bled,  for  which  nature  has  served  and  the 
"  whole  creation  groaned  and  travailed  in  pain  together 
until  now,"  for  which,  over  all  and  through  all,  the 
infinite  God  has  wrought  the 

"...  one  far-off  divine  event, 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves  "  2 

—  even  the  final,  triumphant  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
Him  who  is  to  gather  together  in  one  all  things,  both 
which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth. 


'  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs'  Divine  Origin  of  Christianity,  p.  207. 
*  Closing  words  of  Tennyson's  "In  Memoriam.' 


"  '  J' 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF 
ANTIQUITY. 

OF  all  the  great  peoples  of  antiquity  only  three  made 
large  contributions  to  modern  civilization.  Of  these 
three  each  was  supreme  in  a  different  sphere,  one  in  the 
physical,  one  in  the  intellectual,  and  one  in  the  religious 
or  spiritual  world. 

Because  these  three  elements,  the  spiritual,  the  intel- 
lectual, and  the  physical,  enter  into  man's  nature,  they 
also  enter  as  factors  into  all  the  great  practical  prob- 
lems of  the  race — a  fact  too  often  forgotten.  We  can- 
not deal  with  man  as  if  he  were  pure  spirit  or  intellect. 
We  must  reckon  also  with  flesh  and  blood,  and  remem- 
ber that  man's  physical  nature  subjects  him  to  the  laws 
of  the  physical  world.  Nor  can  we  elevate  him  physi- 
cally if  we  ignore  his  higher  nature. 

It  will  serve  several  purposes  to  study  briefly  the 
divine  method  of  preparing  the  world  for  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  If  Christ  was  to  inau- 
gurate that  kingdom,  why  was  his  coming  so  long  de- 
layed ?  The  objection  is  as  old  as  Celsus.  Human 
limitations  in  a  sense  limit  God.  He  cannot  deal  with 
us,  cannot  reveal  himself  to  us  as  if  we  were  arch- 
angels. He  can  reveal  no  more  of  himself  or  of  his 
truth  to  any  generation  of  men  than  their  capacity  can 
measure.  Both  nature  and  history  show  that  he 
accomplishes  his  purposes,  as  he  requires  us  to  do,  by 
the  use  of  means.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  could  be 
inaugurated  in  the  world  only  when  the  world,  after 

41 


42  THE  NEW  ERA. 

long  ages  of  preparation,  had  been  made  ready  for  it. 
Because  man's  nature  is  what  it  is  this  preparation 
must  needs  be  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical.  To 
work  out  these  three  lines  of  development  God  chose 
three  nations,  the  Hebrews,  the  Greeks,  and  the 
Romans.1  The  meeting  of  these  lines  in  the  fulness  of 
time  was  the  world's  preparation  for  the  advent  of  the 
Christ,  and  hence  became  the  great  focal  point  of  the 
world's  history — the  fruit  of  its  past,  the  seed  of  its 
future. 

A  people's  conception  of  deity  profoundly  influences 
the  national  character  and  life.  In  the  time  of  Abra- 
ham the  world  was  polytheistic.  Idolatry  degraded 
mankind.  In  order  to  the  elevation  of  the  race  men 
must  be  led  to  a  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God.  To  be 
instrumental  of  this  was  the  high  mission  of 

The  Hebrews. 

They  had  what  the  younger  Humboldt  would  call  a 
"talent  for  religion."  The  germinal  principle,  which 
gave  birth  to  the  nation,  directed  its  growth  and 
moulded  its  character,  was  monotheism.  A  virgin  soil 
was  needed  in  which  to  plant  this  truth.  Such  a  soil 
could  not  be  found  in  any  idolatrous  people  whose  in- 
stitutions, laws,  and  habits  of  national  life  had  grown 
and  hardened  for  hundreds  of  years.  The  chosen 
family  is,  therefore,  led  into  Egypt,  where  in  bondage 
they  might  grow  into  a  nation's  numbers  without 
having  developed  national  institutions  or  even  a 
national  life,  until,  born  in  a  day,  the  nation  was  led 
apart  into  the  wilderness  to  receive  its  religious  insti- 
tutions. 

Ignorant  and  undisciplined  as  children,  debased  by 
many  generations  of  slavery,  and  holding  the  grossest 
conceptions  of  Jehovah,  they  were  given  the  Mosaic 
ceremonial,  which  was  a  great  object-lesson,  adapted 
with  wondrous  wisdom  and  skill  to  the  minds  of  these 

>  OB  tbis  subject  see  Conybeare  and  Howson's  St.  Paul,  Chap.  I. 


THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     43 

orientals  and  calculated  to  awaken  in  them  new  con- 
ceptions of  holiness,  justice,  and  mercy  and  then  to 
transfer  these  attributes  to  Jehovah. 

As  they  were  to  be  surrounded  by  idolatrous  nations, 
their  religion  would  be  liable  to  lose  its  purity  by 
heathen  admixture.  Their  occupation  therefore  must 
be  such  as  to  bring  them  as  little  as  possible  into  con- 
tact with  heathen  peoples.  Had  they  been  traders  like 
the  Phoenicians  or  the  modern  Jews,  doubtless  there 
would  have  resulted  a  fatal  contamination.  They  were 
shepherds  and  agriculturists,  and  these  forms  of  in- 
dustry were  conserved  by  the  fact  that  family  lands 
could  not  be  wholly  alienated.  As  an  additional  safe- 
guard against  foreign  influence  there  must  be  de- 
veloped in  them  a  peculiar  exclusiveness.  And  this  we 
find  to  have  been  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the 
Hebrews,  dating  back  doubtless  to  the  Egyptian  servi- 
tude. In  common  sorrow  they  had  learned  a  common 
sympathy.  They  had  been  thrust  into  the  fires  of 
slavery  and  welded  by  the  blows  of  oppression.  Thus 
the  circumstances  under  which  they  grew  to  be  a 
nation,  as  well  as  their  subsequent  history  and  the 
Mosaic  law  against  foreign  marriages,  served  to  develop 
this  national  trait  of  exclusiveness,  which  indeed 
proved  none  too  strong,  as  they  lapsed  many  times  into 
idolatry  through  the  influence  of  surrounding  tribes. 

Their  government  was  a  theocracy,  their  ruler  was 
Jehovah,  and  when  they  set  a  king  over  themselves, 
Saul  and  all  of  his  successors  held  the  sceptre  only  as 
representatives  of  the  invisible  King.  Greater  even 
than  their  kings  were  their  prophets,  because  they  were 
the  direct  messengers  of  Jehovah.  Their  literature  was 
religious,  and  like  the  name  of  their  deity  has  become 
sacred  to  hundreds  of  millions  of  the  most  enlightened 
moderns.  Their  national  festivals  were  all  of  a  re- 
ligious character.  That  the  spirit  of  the  nation  was 
essentially  religious  and  monotheistic  appears  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  during  periods  of  religious  declension 
that  they  suffered  themselves  to  be  enslaved  and 


44  THE  NEW  ERA. 

oppressed  by  their  enemies,  and  a  revival  of  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah  was  always  accompanied  by  a  revival 
of  patriotism  and  a  renewed  assertion  of  the  national 
life. 

They  were  taught  by  their  prophets  that  all  of  their 
national  calamities  were  suffered  as  penalties  of  their 
disloyalty  to  Jehovah.  At  length  from  the  discipline 
of  the  seventy  years'  captivity  the  Jews  effectively 
learned  the  lesson  of  monotheism.  From  that  day  to 
this  who  has  ever  heard  of  an  idolatrous  Jew  ? 

For  many  ages  their  conception  of  Jehovah  was  nar- 
row and  low,  but  through  the  training  of  their  national 
institutions,  through  providential  lessons,  and  through 
the  teachings  of  the  prophets  their  ideas  were  elevated 
and  enlarged  until  at  length  the  nation  conceived  of 
God  as  one,  eternal,  self -existent,  holy,  and  perfect  in 
every  attribute.  Such  a  conception  of  God,  which  is 
the  richest  possession  of  the  world  to-day  and  which 
underlies  every  blessing  of  a  Christian  civilization, 
came  to  the  world  through  the  Hebrews ;  and  to  have 
been  the  medium  of  such  a  benediction  was  worth  the 
thousand  years  of  national  training  which  it  cost. 

When  we  compare  the  Jews'  conception  of  God  with 
that  of  surrounding  tribes,  whether  of  the  Canaanites, 
who  laid  their  children  in  the  burning  arms  of  Moloch,  or 
of  the  Egyptians,  who  worshipped  life  and  whom  Juve- 
nal satirized  in  the  line,  "  O  sacred  nation,  whose  gods 
grow  in  gardens,"  or  with  the  Persian  "fire-worship- 
pers," or  with  any  of  the  other  surrounding  peoples, 
we  find  the  contrast  like  that  between  light  and  dark- 
ness. There  could  be  no  more  striking  proof  of  the 
incomparable  superiority  of  the  Hebrew  conception  of 
deity  over  that  of  all  other  ancient  peoples  than  the 
fact  that  to-day  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the  earth 
designate  the  Supreme  Being  of  the  universe,  not  by  a 
Greek  or  Eoman  or  Egyptian  or  Persian  or  Assyrian 
or  Babylonian  name,  but  by  JEHOVAH,  the  name  of  the 
God  of  the  Hebrews — a  people,  apart  from  their  re- 
ligious character  and  influence,  quite  insignificant. 


THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     45 

Of  all  the  ancient  nations  such  a  conception  of  God 
was  lodged  in  the  mind  of  the  Jew  alone ;  and  this  con- 
ception constituted  the  Jewish  mind  a  fit  soil  for  the 
truths  which  the  Christ  taught  and  exemplified. 

Observe  now  that  as  soon  as  the  great  lesson  of  the 
nation  was  learned — not  before — the  Jews  were  scat- 
tered over  the  civilized  world  to  furnish  in  every  land  a 
prepared  soil  for  the  seed  of  Christian  truth.  After  the 
Babylonian  captivity,  from  which  their  pure  mono- 
theism dates,  they  commenced  to  colonize.  They  went 
eastward  to  the  shores  of  the  Caspian.  A  large  and 
flourishing  colony  remained  on  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates.  They  scattered  up  and  down  Phoenicia 
and  Syria.  Antiochus  the  Great  planted  2000  Jewish 
families  in  Lydia  and  Phrygia,  which  spread  over  Asia 
Minor.  They  went  in  large  numbers  to  Egypt,  settling 
in  Alexandria  and  in  "parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene," 
and  even  penetrating  Ethiopia.  They  colonized  all 
along  the  southern  coast  of  Europe.  They  became 
numerous  and  influential  in  Eome.  They  scattered  into 
other  parts  of  Italy  and  crossed  over  into  Sardinia. 
And  wherever  the  Jew  went,  there  were  found  the 
synagogue  and  the  proselyte.  We  are  told  by  one 
authority  that  the  great  majority  of  the  women  of 
Damascus  had  become  proselytes  to  the  Jewish  faith. 
We  notice  as  we  follow  the  apostles  through  the  Acts 
that,  wherever  they  went,  at  almost  every  point  they 
found  a  congregation  of  Jews  and  "devout  strangers." 
Thus  for  500  years  B.C.  a  pure  doctrine  concerning  God 
was  being  taught  to  the  nations  preparatory  to  the 
preaching  of  Christianity. 

But  there  was  to  be  an  intellectual  as  well  as  a  spir- 
itual preparation.  The  scattering  of  men  and  their  sub- 
sequent isolation  produced  at  length  divergences  of 
speech  so  great  that  peoples  of  the  same  origin,  now 
separated,  could  no  longer  understand  each  other. 
Thus  languages  and  dialects  were  multiplied  until  the 
whole  earth  became  a  Babel.  If  the  good  news  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  was  to  be  widely  published  and  men 


46  THE  NEW  ERA. 

generally  invited  to  citizenship,  there  must  be  some 
common  medium  of  communication,  a  language  gener- 
ally understood. 

And  this  tongue  must  be  a  fit  vessel  in  which  to  bear 
to  the  nations  the  water  of  life — a  language  rich  in  spir- 
itual power  and  capable  of  still  further  enrichment. 
No  adequate  language  existed.  The  Hebrew,  though 
rich  in  religious  terms,  is  not  adapted  to  the  expression 
of  deep  and  abstract  thought.1  There  must  be  devel- 
oped not  only  an  adequate  tongue,  but  also  a  civilization 
capable  of  diffusing  it  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
This  preparation  was  to  be  wrought  by 

The  Greeks. 

In  the  production  of  their  civilization  perhaps  their 
land  was  no  less  influential  than  the  stock  from  which 
they  originally  sprung. 

The  two  striking  features  of  Greece  are  its  mountain 
system  and  its  coast-line.  No  part  of  the  land  is  forty 
miles  ft-om  the  sea  or  ten  miles  from  the  hills.  Though 
not  much  more  than  half  the  size  of  Portugal,  it  has  a 
coast-line  greater  than  that  of  Spain  and  Portugal  to- 
gether.2 Of  the  numberless  bays  some  are  "narrow 
enough  for  the  butterflies  to  cross  and  yet  navigable 
for  the  largest  vessels."  With  a  rocky  and  reluctant 
soil,  the  sea  penetrating  the  land  by  a  thousand  inlets 
was  always  inviting  the  Greeks  to  a  seafaring  life ;  and 
islands,  scattered  over  the  ^Egean  like  seed  from  the 
hand  of  a  sower,  enticed  them  on  from  one  to  another 
until  they  learned  to  visit  other  lands.  They  became 
adventurers,  travellers,  traders,  pirates,  ravaging  the 
surrounding  coasts,  bringing  back  new  treasures  and 
new  ideas.  The  Peloponnesus  is  like  a  mighty  hand 
with  extended  fingers,  stretched  by  Greece  down  into 
the  Mediterranean  to  grasp  its  commerce.  Becoming 

1  See  Hardvrick's  Christ  and  Other  Masters,  p.  75. 
I  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  in  loco. 


THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     47 

masters  of  the  sea,  the  Greeks  were  brought  into  quick- 
ening contact  with  all  the  civilizations  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean Avorld,  thus  stimulating  their  intellectual  life  and 
sharpening  their  wits. 

The  heterogeneous  character  of  the  original  elements 
of  the  Grecian  tribes  should  be  noted.  "No  nation," 
says  Hegel,1  "that  has  played  a  weighty  and  active 
part  in  the  world's  history  has  ever  issued  from  the 
simple  development  of  a  single  race  along  unmodified 
lines  of  blood-relationship;  there  must  be  differences, 
conflict,  a  composition  of  opposed  forces."  The  moun- 
tain-ranges of  Greece  were  high  enough  to  favor  a  sepa- 
rate development  of  the  Grecian  tribes,  but  not  high 
enough  to  isolate  them  and  prevent  a  vigorous  rivalry 
or  the  contagion  of  ideas.  Thus  sea  and  mountain  con- 
spired to  establish  conditions  precisely  opposite  to  those 
which  exist  where  great  homogeneous  populations  oc- 
cupy vast  and  fertile  valleys  like  those  of  the  Nile,  the 
Euphrates,  and  the  Indus.  Such  conditions  produce 
powerful  empires  but  do  not  develop  the  individual,  to 
do  which  was  the  mission  and  the  glory  of  Greece. 

The  Greeks  regarded  their  climate,  which  was  free 
from  great  extremes,  as  a  gift  of  the  gods.  An  in- 
tensely blue  sky,  a  transparent  atmosphere,  a  land- 
scape of  mountain  and  valley,  of  river  and  sea,  the 
beauty  of  the  tropics  without  their  debilitating  air  or 
their  unearned  and  pauperizing  bounty,  so  little  win- 
ter as  to  permit  them  to  live  out  of  doors  with  light 
clothing,  allowing  the  freest  movement  and  constant 
contact  with  nature— such  were  the  conditions  which 
favored  a  perfectly  healthy  development  of  body  and 
mind. 

Living  in  the  open  air  amid  such  scenes,  an  alert  and 
sensitive  mind  must  be  awakened  to  a  love  of  the  beau- 
tiful. Moreover,  dwelling  among  enemies,  the  Greeks 
were  trained  to  war.  The  safety  of  their  homes  and 
their  own  lives  in  the  hand-to-hand  conflict  of  battle 

»  Philosophy  of  History,  p.  181,  Griggs'  Philosophical  Classics. 


48  THE  NEW  ERA. 

depended  on  their  skill  at  arms  and  on  the  strength 
and  endurance  of  their  bodies.  Accordingly,  supported 
as  they  were  by  the  toil  of  their  slaves,  physical  cul- 
ture early  became  the  business  of  the  Greeks.  Among 
the  Spartans  the  bodily  training  of  girl  as  well  as  boy 
began  as  soon  as  the  child  could  walk.  It  is  not  strange 
that  a  race  neither  stunted  by  excessive  toil  nor  ren- 
dered effeminate  by  luxury,  having  the  highest  possible 
incentives  to  develop  the  body,  should  in  the  course  of 
generations  produce  as  nearly  as  possible  the  ideal 
human  form.  This  highest  type  of  beauty  in  the  mate- 
rial world  conspired  with  the  charms  of  sea  and  earth 
and  air  to  develop  their  love  of  the  beautiful  and  to 
perfect  their  artistic  sense,  until  at  length  beauty  be- 
came the  great  informing  idea  of  Greek  civilization, 
expressing  itself  in  sculpture,  painting,  music,  architec- 
ture, and  literature. 

In  the  age  of  Pericles  Grecian  civilization  had  become 
the  highest  the  world  had  ever  seen,  and  Grecian  com- 
merce was  bearing  it  to  all  the  ports  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. Moreover  the  Greeks  had  developed  a  strong 
centrifugal  tendency.  They  were  great  colonizers.  The 
single  city  of  Miletus  had  become  the  mother  of  three 
hundred  towns,  colonizing  the  entire  coast  of  the  Black 
Sea.  They  planted  their  arts,  sciences,  philosophy,  and 
literature  in  Asia  Minor  and  in  Italy.  Then  Alexander 
arose  to  press  the  die  of  Grecian  civilization  on  one  half 
the  people  of  the  globe.  He  built  new  cities  from  Alex- 
andria in  Egypt  eastward,  which  became  new  centres 
of  civilization  and  which  perpetuated  Grecian  influence 
when  Grecian  arms  had  long  since  lost  their  power. 
Thus  "gradually,"  says  the  historian  Kurtz,1  "the 
Greek  language,  which  when  the  Gospel  was  first 
preached  was  understood  and  spoken  throughout  the 
Roman  Empire,  obtained  universal  dominion  —  as  it 
were  a  temporary  suspension,  this,  of  the  judgment 
by  which  languages  were  confounded."  So  that  the 

»  Cburch  History,  Vol.  I.  p.  50. 


THEJHREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     49 

writings  of  the  apostles,  whether  addressed  to  Roman, 
Grecian,  or  Asiatic  Christians,  might  all  be  in  Greek. 
And  even  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  scattered  abroad, 
was  probably  written,  not  in  their  own  language,  but  in 
this  perfected  and  cosmopolitan  tongue. 

But  equally  necessary  with  the  preparation  of  a  fit 
medium  for  the  Gospel  was  the  work  to  be  accom- 
plished by 

The  Roman. 

He  was  to  supply  the  necessary  physical  conditions,  to 
level  the  barriers  between  different  peoples  by  bring- 
ing them  under  one  government,  and  to  cast  up  the 
great  highways  which  would  facilitate  the  intercourse 
of  the  nations.  One  of  their  own  writers  thus  states 
the  mission  of  his  race  :  "  It  is  for  others  to  work  brass 
into  breathing  shape — others  may  be  more  eloquent  or 
describe  the  circling  movements  of  the  heavens  and  tell 
the  rising  of  the  stars.  Thy  work,  O  Eoman  !  is  to  rule 
the  nations;  these  be  thine  acts,  to  impose  the  condi- 
tions of  the  world's  peace,  to  show  mercy  to  the  fallen 
and  to  crush  the  proud." 

Imagine  the  Roman  work  of  preparation  undone,  that 
empire  broken  :'  ito  petty  and  jealous  principalities. 
Ignorance  of  each  other  and  attending  prejudice  and 
suspicion  would  cut  off  intercommunication,  and  fre- 
quent wars  would  prevent  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace. 

God  foresaw  this  necessity,  and  seven  and  a  half  cen- 
turies before  he  " sent  forth  his  Son"  he  planted  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber  a  power  which  should  stretch  its 
arm  over  all  nations  and,  grasping  the  world's  frag- 
ments, unite  them  under  universal  empire. 

The  Roman  roads  were  the  world's  great  arteries 
radiating  from  the  Eternal  City  as  its  heart.  Every 
pulsation  of  that  heart  was  felt  at  the  finger-tips  of 
civilization.  Men  of  every  race  flowed  into  Rome ;  and 
the  torch  of  the  Gospel  flaming  there  might  cast  its 
light  into  every  land. 


50  THE  NEW  ERA. 

• 

Thus  the  three  great  lines  of  preparation  were  de- 
veloped, each  of  which  was  necessary.  Without  the 
preparatory  work  of  the  Jew,  Christianity  could  not 
have  arisen;  without  that  of  the  Greek  and  Roman, 
its  two  wings  would  have  been  clipped  and  it  must 
have  fallen  where  it  arose,  to  become  provincial,  a 
phase  of  Judaism  instead  of  the  religion  of  the  world. 

These  lines  of  preparation  centred  in  Judaea.  There 
was  the  home  of  the  Jews,  there  was  Grecian  civiliza- 
tion, there  was  Roman  power.  The  coins  of  the  Jews 
bore  the  "image  and  superscription"  of  the  Csesars, 
their  sacred  writings  circulated  in  the  Greek  of  the 
Septuagint.  An  illustration  of  this  triple  civilization 
has  been  remarked  in  the  fact  that  Herod  the  Great 
rebuilt  the  temple  for  the  Jews  and  within  the  walls  of 
the  sacred  city  erected  a  theatre  and  amphitheatre  for 
the  Greeks  and  Romans.  And  there  in  Palestine,  where 
these  three  civilizations  met  in  most  perfect  conjunc- 
tion, appeared  He  whose  advent  Hegel  calls  "  the  goal 
of  all  previous  history  and  the  starting-point  for  all 
history  to  come." ' 

But  this  was  not  the  only  preparation  to  be  made.  In 
addition  to  the  vast  work  of  a  positive  character  which 
has  been  outlined,  each  of  these  three  great  races  was 
to  exhibit  a  great  failure  which  would  further  prepare 
mankind  for  a  Saviour.  Man  has  many  methods  by 
which  he  attempts  to  save  himself.  If  I  mistake  not, 
they  are  all  reducible  to  three  great  classes  or  genera, 
viz.,  ritualism,  culture,  and  law.  All  these  are  found  in 
varying  proportions  in  some  of  the  great  religions  of 
the  world,  but  ritualism  is  usually  the  basis  of  heathen 
religions  and  it  has  entered  largely  into  corrupted 
forms  of  Christianity.  If  ritualism  had  had  any  saving 
power,  it  should  have  manifested  itself  in  Judaism. 
Ritualists  in  the  Christian  church  will  generally  con- 
cede a  divine  origin  and  authority  to  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  church  which  they  would 

>  Philosophy  of  History,  p.  227,  Qriggs'  Philosophical  Classics. 


THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     51 

hardly  claim  for  their  own :  and  Jewish  ritualism  pro- 
duced not  national  righteousness  but  Rabbinism,  which 
"  strained  out  a  gnat  and  swallowed  a  camel,"  and 
Pharisaism,  which  "  devoured  widows'  houses  and  for  a 
pretence  made  long  prayers." 

There  is  perhaps  at  the  present  time  an  increasing 
number  who  rely  on  culture  to  save  the  world.  I  once 
heard  Bayard  Taylor  say  that  what  society  needed  to 
purge  its  vice  was  ' '  more  of  art."  Had  he  forgotten  or 
had  he  never  learned  the  great  lesson  of  Greek  civiliza- 
tion ?  The  love  of  the  beautiful  did  for  the  Greeks  all  it 
could  do  for  any  people.  As  we  have  already  seen,  it 
became  the  informing  idea  of  their  civilization.  It  can 
never  again  so  profoundly  influence  another  civiliza- 
tion, because  modern  life  has  become  so  complex.  The 
different  classes  of  society  are  now  dominated,  not  by 
one  supreme  motive,  but  by  many  and  conflicting  mo- 
tives. A  single  idea  cannot  now  take  possession  of  a 
nation  and  mould  its  life  for  generations.  That  is,  the 
experiment  can  never  again  be  repeated  under  so  favor- 
able conditions.  And  what  was  its  success?  The  cul- 
ture of  the  Greeks  not  only  could  not  save  them  from 
vice,  but  helped  to  plunge  them  into  its  most  loathsome 
depths.  The  utter  failure  of  that  experiment  was  a 
demonstration  for  all  time  that  mere  culture  has  no 
saving  power. 

The  dominating  and  formative  idea  of  Eoman  civili- 
zation was  that  of  law.  The  central  idea  of  Judaism 
and  of  Christianity  is  one  and  the  same,  viz.,  loyalty  to 
a  personal  God ;  that  of  the  Roman  was  loyalty  to  law, 
not  as  the  expression  of  a  personal  will,  but  as  abstract 
law,  or,  at  best,  as  representing  the  state ;  it  was  wholly 
impersonal. 

Precisely  here  do  we  find  the  essential  difference  be- 
tween morality  and  true  religion.  The  laws  of  morality 
are  abstractions,  they  are  wholly  impersonal;  those  of 
Christianity  are  the  expressions  of  a  personal  will. 
Morality  fashions  the  life  by  rules,  that  is,  from  with- 
out; Christianity  by  love  to  Him  whose  will  the  laws 


52  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  life  express,  that  is,  from  within.  The  former  is 
mechanical  and  bound,  the  latter  is  vital  and  free.  The 
one  affords  light  without  heat;  the  other  heat  with 
light.  A  moral  character  is  made;  a  Christian  charac- 
ter grows.  The  former  is  beautiful,  but  its  beauty  is 
that  of  the  statue,  wrought  from  without  and  lifeless; 
the  beauty  of  the  latter  is  that  of  the  living  form, 
created  by  a  vital  principle  within.  Says  Dr.  H.  J.  Van 
Dyke  with  nice  discrimination  :  "  A  Christian  life  is  not 
an  imitation,  but  a  reproduction,  of  the  life  of  Christ." 

Roman  genius  for  law  could  develop  great  national 
strength  and  create  a  vast  organization,  could  produce 
\egions  whose  disciplined  and  resistless  might  planted 
the  Roman  eagle  in  every  capital,  it  could  bring  all 
nations  under  Roman  law  and  furnish  a  code  for  the 
courts  of  subsequent  ages,  but  it  could  not  produce  a 
human  brotherhood.  It  could  develop  a  strength  of 
character  equal  to  thrusting  the  hand  into  a  flame  and 
holding  it  there  until  consumed,  or  to  leaping  into  a 
bottomless  chasm  for  the  good  or  glory  of  the  state ;  it 
could  produce  a  few  such  stoics  as  Seneca,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  and  Epictetus,  but  it  could  not  save  society 
from  sinking  into  the  foulest  corruption  or  give  relief 
to  the  millions  of  slaves  who  writhed  under  the  heel  of 
Rome.  Says  the  author  of  "  Ecce  Homo"1:  "Never 
did  men  live  under  such  a  crushing  sense  of  degrada- 
tion, never  did  they  look  back  with  more  bitter  regret, 
never  were  the  vices  that  spring  out  of  despair  so  rife, 
never  was  sensuality  cultivated  more  methodically, 
never  did  poetry  curdle  so  readily  into  satire,  never 
was  genius  so  much  soured  by  cynicism,  and  never  was 
calumny  so  abundant  or  so  gross  or  so  easily  believed. 
If  morality  depended  on  laws,  .  .  .  this  would  have 
been  the  most  glorious  era  in  the  past  history  of  man- 
kind. It  was  in  fact  one  of  the  meanest  and  foulest." 
"  What  a  society  was  this  of  Rome,  .  .  .  where  the  most 
monstrous  cruelty  was  allied  with  the  most  shameless 
libertinism ! " a 

1  Pp.  144, 145.      a  Schmidt's  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  96. 


THE  THREE  GREAT  RACES  OF  ANTIQUITY.     53 

Thus  while  the  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical 
conditions  were  being  made  ready  for  Him  who  was  to 
inaugurate  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men,  the  world 
was  being  taught  her  need  of  Him  by  her  own  decisive 
failures. 

And  now  "  when  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  God 
sent  forth  his  Son," 

"  Of  wedded  maid  and  Virgin-Mother  born." 

"  No  war,  or  battle's  sound 
Was  heard  the  world  around ; 
The  idle  spear  and  shield  were  high  up  hung, 
The  hooked  chariot  stood 
Unstain'd  with  hostile  blood."  * 

And  upon  the  world's  stillness  broke  the  angel's  song: 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good 
will  toward  men." 

In  that  birth  at  Bethlehem  the  dying  forces  of  Juda- 
ism, Greece,  and  Rome  were  born  again,  for  Christ  was 
to  redeem  their  failures,  to  substitute  life  for  the  forms 
of  Judaism,  to  exemplify  in  his  own  character  and 
impart  to  his  followers  a  perfection  of  beauty  of  which 
the  Greeks  had  never  dreamed,  and  to  found  a  kingdom 
broader  than  the  empire  of  mighty  Rome,  established 
in  the  hearts  of  men  whose  loving  loyalty  to  him,  as  the 
giver  of  every  law,  would  make  them  at  once  obedient 
and  free — a  kingdom  whose  citizens  would  be  brothers. 

i  Hilton's  Christmas  Hymn. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON. 

THE  traveller  at  Rome  sees  many  magnificent  col- 
umns and  capitals  which  were  brought  from  heathen 
temples  to  sustain  and  beautify  Christian  churches. 
Thus  we  find  in  the  temple  of  Christian  civilization 
Hebrew  and  Greek  and  Roman  pillars. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  glanced  hurriedly 
at  these  three  greatest  nations  of  antiquity,  partly  be- 
cause they  made  the  deepest  a,nd  most  lasting  impres- 
sion on  modern  civilization,  partly  as  an  example  of  the 
threefold  character  of  the  great  problem  of  the  race, 
partly  as  an  evidence  of  the  divine  mission  of  Christ  for 
whose  coming  they  were  used  to  p*epare  the  world, 
and  partly  as  an  illustration  of  the  divine  method  of 
preparing  nations  to  do  a  specific  work  and  guiding 
them  to  its  completion. 

It  should  be  observed  that  it  was  precisely  because 
these  three  nations  were  supreme,  one  in  each  of  the 
three  spheres  pointed  out,  that  they  could  be  used  as 
they  were,  and  that  they  and  they  alone  of  ancient 
peoples  left  a  permanent  and  profound  impress  on 
modern  and  western  civilization.  It  is,  therefore,  of 
the  utmost  significance  that  of  these  characteristics, 
each  of  which  singly  sufficed  to  make  a  nation  su- 
premely important  in  the  world's  history,  all  three  unite 
in  the  one  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

1.  The  religious  life  of  this  race  is  more  vigorous, 
more  spiritual,  more  Christian  than  that  of  any  other. 
Not  that  Anglo-Saxons  are  righteous  overmuch.  They 
will  have  to  answer  for  many  sins  against  weaker  races 

54 


CONTRIBUTION  MADS  BT  THE  ANGLO-SAXON     55 

and  against  the  weaker  of  their  own  race.  They  pro- 
duce as  worldly,  as  gross,  as  selfish  and  beastly  men 
and  women  as  do  any  other  people,  but  for  all  that  they 
exemplify  a  purer  Christianity  and  are  to-day  a  might- 
ier power  for  righteousness  on  the  earth  than  any  other 
race.  Speaking  of  England,  Montalembert  says:  "She 
is  the  one  which  has  best  preserved  the  three  funda- 
mental bases  of  every  society  which  is  worthy  of  man 
— the  spirit  of  freedom,  the  domestic  character,  and  the 
religious  mind.'1''  This  utterance  is  the  more  significant 
coming  from  an  eminent  Frenchman  and  an  ardent 
Roman  Catholic. 

"With  beautiful  and  important  exceptions,  Protes- 
tantism on  the  Continent  has  degenerated  into  mere 
formalism.  By  confirmation  at  a  certain  age,  the  state 
churches  are  filled  with  members  who  very  commonly 
know  little  or  nothing  of  a  personal  religious  experi- 
ence. In  obedience  to  a  military  order,  a  regiment  of 
German  soldiers  files  into  church  and  partakes  of  the 
sacrament,  just  as  it  would  shoulder  arms  or  obey  any 
other  word  of  command.  Protestantism  on  the  Conti- 
nent seems  to  be  nearly  as  poor  in  spiritual  life  and 
power  as  Romanism.  That  means  that  most  of  the 
spiritual  Christianity  in  the  world  is  found  among 
Anglo-Saxons  and  their  converts ;  for  this  is  the  great 
missionary  race.  If  we  take  all  the  German  missionary 
societies  together,  we  find  that,  in  the  number  of 
workers  and  the  amount  of  contributions,  they  do  not 
equal  the  smallest  of  the  three  great  English  mis- 
sionary societies.  The  year  that  the  Congregationalists 
in  the  United  States  gave  one  dollar  and  thirty-seven 
cents  per  caput  to  foreign  missions,  the  members  of  the 
great  German  State  Church  gave  only  three  quarters  of 
a  cent  per  caput  to  the  same  cause."  ' 

No  race  has  ever  shown  such  philanthropy,  no  race  is 
so  easily  moved  by  great  moral  ideas,  none  is  so  capable 
of  a  moral  enthusiasm,  none  is  so  quick  to  accept  re- 

•  The  Author's  "  Our  Country,'  p.  209. 


56  THE  NEW  ERA. 

sponsibility  for  the  ignorant,  the  degraded,  the  suffer- 
ing, or  to  make  generous  self-sacrifice  in  their  behalf  as 
the  Anglo-Saxon.  None  is  so  capable  of  disinterested 
endeavor.  This  race  is  forever  organizing  a  society  to 
help  some  one.  No  doubt  it  sacrifices  more  lives  and 
more  treasure  for  the  uplifting  of  mankind  than  all 
other  races  combined. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty -nine  missionary  socie- 
ties represented  at  the  General  Conference  of  Foreign 
Missions  in  London  in  1888,  eighteen  represented  all 
Continental  races  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  rep- 
resented the  Anglo-Saxon  race  (I  use  the  term  Anglo- 
Saxon  broadly  to  include  all  English-speaking  peoples). 
That  foreign  missionary  societies  were  very  generally 
represented  appears  from  the  statement  of  the  pro- 
gramme committee,  that  "while  the  entire  revenue  of 
all  Protestant  missions  of  the  world  does  not  amount  to 
£2,250,000  per  annum,  the  societies  taking  part  in  the 
conference  have  an  aggregate  annual  income  of  more 
than  £2,000,000."  Moreover  a  large  proportion  of  the 
£250,000  not  represented  passes  through  the  treasury  of 
in  English  society  which  declined  to  participate  in  the 
conference.  Evidently  it  is  chiefly  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  that  we  must  look  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
world.  And  to  show  that  this  is  pre-eminently  the 
missionary  race  is  to  show  that  it  is  the  most  Christian 
race,  for  the  missionary  spirit  is  the  essential  spirit  of 
Christianity. 

As  the  Hebrew  carried  his  pure  monotheism  around 
the  Mediterranean,  so  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  carrying  a 
spiritual  Christianity  around  the  world. 

2.  I  do  not  forget  that  comparisons  are  odious,  and 
especially  so  when  the  subjects  of  comparison  are  such 
as  do  not  admit  of  exact  measurement  and  the  result 
must,  therefore,  be  a  matter  of  opinion.  The  argument, 
however,  requires  a  comparison  of  the  intellectual 
powers  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  with  those  of  other  races. 

The  highest  expression  of  the  intellectual  life  of  a 
people  is  to  be  found  in  their  literature  and  more 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     57 

especially  in  their  poetry.  Surely  no  one  would  be  so 
bold  as  to  attempt  to  match  English  poetry  in  any 
modern  literature,  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
even  the  Greek  affords  its  equal,  all  things  considered. 
Edmund  Gosse  names  a  dozen  poets  "as  the  manifest 
immortals  of  the  British  Parnassus  ;"  ]  viz.,  Chaucer, 
Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Dryden,  Pope,  Burns, 
Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Byron,  Shelley,  Keats.  Of 
course  other  great  names  might  be  mentioned  whom 
many  would  deem  better  entitled  than  some  of  these 
to  a  place  in  the  first  rank;  but  take  simply  these 
twelve,  and  in  what  skies  does  such  a  constellation 
blaze  save  in  the  British  heavens?  Speaking  of  the 
brightest  lights  of  English  literature,  Emerson  says  :  "  I 
find  the  great  masters  out  of  all  rivalry  and  reach."  * 

And  the  lesser  lights  are  almost  as  the  stars  for  mul- 
titude. English  literature  is  hardly  less  remarkable  for 
its  volume  than  for  its  quality.  Taine,  whose  aim  was 
to  show  that  a  people's  psychology  is  to  be  found  in  its 
literature,  explains  why  he  chose  the  English  for  dis- 
cussion. "  If  I  have  chosen  this  one  in  particular,"  he 
says,  "it  is  not  without  a  reason.  I  had  to  find  a 
people  with  a  grand  and  complete  literature,  and  this  is 
rare;  there  are  few  nations  who  have,  during  their 
whole  existence,  really  thought  and  written.  Among 
the  ancients,  the  Latin  literature  is  worth  nothing  at 
the  outset,  then  borrowed  and  imitative.  Among  the 
moderns,  German  literature  is  almost  wanting  for  two 
centuries  [155C-1750].  Italian  literature  and  Spanish 
literature  end  at  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Only  ancient  Greece,  modern  France  and  England, 
offer  a  complete  series  of  great  significant  monu- 
ments." ' 

During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  no  less  than  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-three  English  writers  appeared,  nearly 
all  of  whom  possessed  some  unusual  excellence.  And 


'  The  Forum,  April,  1889,  p.  178.  *  Prose  Works,  Vol.  II.  p.  273. 

*  Twine's  English  Literature,  pp.  80,  VI. 


58  THE  NEW  ERA. 

now  for  three  hundred  years  since  that  age  of  unri- 
valled splendor  there  has  been  a  wonderful  succession 
of  poets,  essayists,  historians,  novelists,  philosophers, 
orators,  scientists,  and  scholars.  Thinkers  of  every 
description  have  enriched  the  language  with  a  wealth 
which  has  made  all  later  generations  their  debtors. 

America's  interest  in  this  wealth  of  thought  is  not 
wholly  that  of  inheritance.  She  has  produced  a  fair 
share  of  it.  Sydney  Smith's  contemptuous  question, 
"  Who  reads  an  American  book  ?"  is  no  longer  pertinent 
enough  to  provoke  answer  or  indeed  to  be  asked.  Still 
the  intellectual  vigor  of  the  American  branch  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  has  displayed  itself  less  in  the  pursuit 
of  literature  than  in  the  mastery  of  the  physical  condi- 
tions involved  in  the  conquest,  for  civilization,  of  three 
million  square  miles  of  territory.  With  nations  as  with 
individuals  physical  development  precedes  intellectual. 
"  First  that  which  is  natural,  and  afterward  that  which 
is  spiritual."  When  the  energies  of  the  nation  are  less 
absorbed  in  the  development  of  our  matchless  physical 
resources,  there  will  appear  no  doubt  a  higher  intellec- 
tual life. 

We  do  not  forget  the  precious  contributions  to  letters, 
philosophy,  science,  and  every  department  of  scholar- 
ship made  by  the  Germans,  the  French,  and  other  races, 
but  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  must  be  credited  the  great- 
est poet  and  the  greatest  cluster  of  poets,  the  greatest 
modern  philosopher  and  the  two  greatest  scientists. 
When  Prof.  Tyndall  was  in  the  United  States,  he  said 
something  to  this  effect:  "If  a  horizontal  line  were 
drawn  from  the  top  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  genius, 
stretching  to  our  own  day,  it  would  leave  immeasurably 
below  it  every  head  that  has  since  appeared  excepting 
that  of  Thomas  Young ;  and  if  it  declined  at  all  to  reach 
his,  the  declination  would  be  very  slight."  And  Prof. 
Helmholtz  has  said:  "The  greatest  discovery  I  ever 
made  was  that  of  the  genius  and  writings  of  Thomas 
Young ;  I  consider  him  the  greatest  man  of  science  that 
has  appeared  in  the  history  of  this  planet." 


CONTRIB  UTION  MADE  B  Y  THE  ANGLO  SAXON.     59 

Inventive  genius,  which  especially  characterizes 
Anglo-Saxons  and  is  a  pre-eminent  triumph  of  mind 
over  matter,  is  surely  an  evidence  of  intellectual  power, 
and  might  be  appropriately  noticed  in  this  connection, 
but  it  will  be  considered  later. 

Comparing  the  entire  product  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
mind  as  preserved  in  the  English  language  with  that  of 
all  other  races,  can  any  one  question  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  these  treasures  would  be  a  greater  loss  to  the 
world  than  would  the  destruction  of  all  the  thought 
embodied  in  any  other  language?  And  if  this  be  so, 
may  we  not  correctly  infer  that,  on  the  whole,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  the  intellectual  leaders  of  the  world  ? 

Again,  another  high  expression  of  the  intellectual  life 
of  a  people  is  found  in  their  statesmanship,  and  their 
statesmanship  is  to  be  seen  crystallized  in  their  laws 
and  institutions.  "The  institutions  of  a  people,"  says 
Hamilton  W.  Mabie,  "are  its  solution  of  the  problem  of 
life."  Surely  there  is  no  greater  problem,  and  the  best 
solution  of  the  greatest  problem  implies  the  best  powers 
of  mind. 

Anglo-Saxon  institutions  show  a  skilful  adjustment 
of  powers,  a  harmonization  of  conflicting  claims,  a  com- 
bination of  apparently  opposite  principles,  a  balance  of 
rights  and  duties,  a  union  of  liberty  and  law,  an  exam- 
ple of  unity  in  diversity  such  as  cannot  be  found  in  any 
other  civilization,  eastern  or  western,  ancient  or  mod- 
ern. The  American  constitution  is  doubtless  the  high- 
est example  of  constructive  statesmanship  in  history. 
Mr.  Gladstone  pronounces  it  "  the  most  wonderful  work 
ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose 
of  man."  '  The  growth  of  the  English  Constitution  is  a 
living  monument  to  the  practical  statesmanship  of  the 
English  race;  and  the  recent  Australian  Federation 
affords  a  new  illustration  of  Anglo-Saxon  political 
genius. 

That  ability  which  enables  a  people  so  to  adjust  itself 

»  "  Kin  Beyond  Sea"— North  American  Review,  Oct.  1878. 


60  THE  NEW  ERA. 

to  the  conditions  imposed  by  nature,  to  establish  such 
relations  with  other  peoples  and  so  arrange  its  internal 
economy  as  to  secure  the  largest  liberty,  the  greatest 
progress,  the  most  general  intelligence  and  prosperity, 
may  be  despised  in  certain  quarters  as  "grossly  practi- 
cal," but  this  accurate  perception  of  conditions,  this 
sagacious  judgment,  and  this  nice  power  of  adjustment, 
whether  called  statesmanship  when  applied  to  national 
concerns  or  plain  common-sense  when  exercised  in 
every-day  affairs,  seem  to  me  nothing  less  than  a 
genius  for  living.  This  characteristic  is  pre-eminently 
Anglo-Saxon,  distinguishing  the  American  even  more, 
if  possible,  than  the  Englishman.  Said  Montesquieu  : 
"  No  people  have  true  common-sense  but  those  who  are 
born  in  England."  "  A  strong  common-sense,"  observes 
a  discerning  critic,  "  which  it  is  not  easy  to  unseat  or 
disturb,  marks  the  English  mind  for  a  thousand  years."  ' 
Common-sense  adjusts  men  to  their  environment, 
which  in  the  struggle  for  life  is  an  immense  advantage. 

Several  Continental  races  are  superior  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  in  speculative  thought,  in  scholarship,  in  music, 
and  in  art.  But  these  are  the  flowers,  not  the  roots,  of 
life ;  they  adorn  civilizations,  but  do  not  create  them. 
The  Anglo-Saxon,  like  the  ancient  Greek,  has  the  rare 
power  of  propagating  his  civilization,  which  together 
with  his  language  he  is  carrying  around  the  world. 

"The  progress  of  humanity  and  of  Christianity,"  says 
Dr.  Schaff,  "requires  the  preponderance  of  one  lan- 
guage as  a  common  medium  of  international  inter- 
course and  a  connecting  link  between  the  various  mem- 
bers of  the  civilized  world." "  English  is  better  fitted 
than  any  other  language  to  render  this  service.  The 
characteristics  of  a  people  appear  in  their  language. 
The  English  tongue,  like  the  English  race,  has  a  won- 
derful power  of  assimilation  and  expansion,  is  the  most 
intellectual  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  direct  and 


1  Emerson's  Prose  Works.  Vol.  n.  p.  271. 
'  The  English  Language,  p.  64. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     61 

practical.  It  is  said  by  an  eminent  scholar,  a  German- 
American,  to  be  the  "most  easily  acquired  and  most 
easily  used."  Concerning  the  English  language  let  me 
cite  the  testimony  of  men  whose  blood  and  birth  pre- 
clude the  suspicion  of  any  bias  in  its  favor. .  M.  Al- 
phonse  de  Candolle  says  (Histoire  des  Sciences) :  ' '  Eng- 
lish is  the  most  forcible,  the  most  succinct,  as  well  as 
the  most  assimilative."  "Its  composite  character,*' 
says  Dr.  Schaff,  "imparts  to  it  a  pliability,  expansive- 
ness,  and  perfectibility  which  no  other  language  pos- 
sesses."1 "  Dr.  John  A.  Weisse,  in  a  work  on  the  Eng- 
lish language,  says  that  he  was  an  utter  stranger  to  it 
up  to  his  thirtieth  year.  Convinced  of  its  inferiority, 
he  studied  it  with  a  view  to  demonstrating  that  inferi- 
ority. His  investigations  convinced  him  that  '  English 
contains  the  cream  and  essence  of  its  predecessors  and 
contemporaries.'  He  is  not  content  to  class  it  among 
the  best ;  it  is  the  best,  the  most  flexible,  the  one  language 
of  all  that  have  ever  existed  most  suitable  to  become 
a  world -language."  2  Another  German  declares  that 
while  in  it  has  been  written  the  richest  and  greatest 
literature,  it  is  also  the  most  practical  language ;  clear, 
concise,  pre-eminently  the  language  of  business  and  of 
telegraphic  communication.  Mr.  Orton,  late  president 
of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  says  English 
is  twenty-five  per  cent  cheaper  for  telegraphic  purposes 
than  any  other.  I  must  be  permitted  one  more  cita- 
tion. It  shall  be  from  the  founder  of  scientific  German 
philology,  the  eminent  Jacob  Grimm.  "Among  all  the 
modern  languages,"  he  says,  "none  has,  by  giving  up 
and  confounding  all  the  laws  of  sound,  and  by  cutting 
off  nearly  all  the  inflections,  acquired  greater  strength 
and  vigor  than  the  English.  Its  fulness  of  free  middle 
sounds  which  cannot  be  taught,  but  only  learned,  is  the 
cause  of  an  essential  force  of  expression  such  as  per- 
haps never  stood  at  the  command  of  any  other  lan- 
guage of  men.  Its  entire,  highly  intellectual  and  won- 

1  The  English  Language,  p.  53. 

»  Methodist  Review,  Nov. -Dec.  1890,  p.  861. 


62 


THE  NEW  ERA. 


derfully  happy  structure  and  development  are  the 
result  of  a  surprisingly  intimate  marriage  of  the  two 
noblest  languages  in  modern  Europe,  the  Germanic  and 
the  Romance ;  the  former  (as  is  well  known)  supplying 
in  far  larger  proportion  the  material  groundwork,  the 
latter  the  intellectual  conceptions.  As  to  wealth,  intel- 
lectuality, and  closeness  of  structure,  none  of  all  the 
living  languages  can  be  compared  with  it.  In  truth, 
the  English  language,  which,  by  no  mere  accident,  has 
produced  and  upborne  the  greatest  and  most  command- 
ing poet  of  modern  times  as  distinguished  from  the 
ancient  classics — I  can,  of  course,  only  mean  Shake- 
speare— may  with  full  propriety  be  called  a  world- 
language  ;  and  like  the  English  people  it  seems  destined 
hereafter  to  .  prevail  even  more  extensively  than  at 
present  in  all  the  ends  of  the  earth."  l 

The  anticipations  of  the  great  scholar  are  being  fully 
realized.  The  following  table 2  shows  by  how  many 
people  the  seven  leading  languages  of  civilization  were 
spoken  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  and  in  1890. 

1801. 


Rank. 

Language. 

Number  by 
whom  Spoken. 

Per  cent. 

1 

French  

31,450,000 

19  4 

2 

Russian  

30770,000 

19  0 

3 

30  320  000 

18  7 

4 

Spanish           

86  190.000 

16  8 

5 

English  

80,520,000 

12  7 

6 

Italian  

15,070  000 

9  3 

7 

Portuguese  

7,480,000 

4  7 

1890. 


Rank. 

Language. 

Number  by 
whom  Spoken. 

Per  cent. 

1 

English  

Ill  100  000 

27  7 

2 

German  

75,200,000 

18  7 

8 

Russian        

75090000 

18  7 

4 

French  

51,200,000 

12.7 

5 

Spanish   

42,800,000 

10  7 

6 

Italian  

33,400,000 

8.3 

7 

Portuguese  

13,000.000 

3.2 

1  Ueber  den  Ursprung  der  Sprache  (Berlin,  1858),  p.  50.    Quoted  by  Dr. 
Schaff,  The  English  Language,  pp.  8,  9. 
» Mulhall. 


CONTRIB  UTION  MADE  B  7  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     63 

Here  it  appears  that  English  has  risen  from  the 
fifth  place  to  the  first.  In  1801  German  was  spoken  by 
10,000,000  more  people  than  English;  now  English  is 
spoken  by  36,000,000  more  than  German.  Then  French 
was  spoken  by  11,000,000  more  than  English;  now  Eng- 
lish is  spoken  by  60,000,000  more  than  French.  In  1801 
these  seven  languages  were  spoken  by  161,800,000 
people,  in  1890  by  401,700,000.  The  proportion  of  the 
whole  speaking  German  and  Russian  remains  un- 
changed, but  each  of  the  other  tongues  except  the  Eng- 
lish is  spoken  by  a  smaller  percentage  of  the  whole 
now  than  it  was  in  1801;  while  English-speaking  peo- 
ples have  risen  from  less  than  thirteen  per  cent  of  the 
whole  to  more  than  twenty-seven — from  less  than  thir- 
teen per  cent  of  161,800,000  to  more  than  twenty-seven 
per  cent  of  401,700,000 — and  are  now  more  than  five 
times  as  numerous  as  they  were  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century. 

The  marvellous  spread  of  the  English  language  is  due 
very  largely  to  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  but  not  wholly  by  any  means.  Bishop 
Taylor  said,  a  dozen  years  ago,  that  there  were  then  in 
India  a  million  natives  who  spoke  English,  and  the 
desire  to  learn  the  language  was  constantly  growing.1 
Julius  Seelye  and  Joseph  Cook  a  few  years  ago  ad- 
dressed large  audiences  of  Brahmins  without  an  in- 
terpreter. This  language  is  the  principal  vehicle  of 
modern  and  western  civilization ;  and  wherever  the  cur- 
rents of  new  life  touch  in  the  Old  World  there  are  na- 
tions eager  to  learn  English.  It  is  taught  as  a  regular 
branch  of  instruction  in  the  best  universities  and 
colleges  of  Continental  Europe.  Wherever  English, 
Scotch,  and  American  missionaries  go — and  where  do 
they  not  go  ? — they  plant  schools  and  colleges,  in  which 
English  soon  becomes  almost  or  quite  a  necessity. 
When  a  young  Asiatic  has  been  taught  to  think  and  has 
been  acquainted  in  some  measure  with  the  world's  his- 

>  Methodist  Review,  Nov.— Dec.  1890,  p  866. 


64  THE  NEW  ERA. 

tory  and  modern  science,  there  has  been  developed  in 
him  an  intellectual  life  which  demands  food.  He  has 
acquired  literary  tastes  and  an  appetite  for  knowledge 
which  the  vernacular  cannot  possibly  satisfy.  He 
must  know  a  European  language,  and  that  of  his  in- 
structors is  the  one  naturally  chosen.  The  study  of 
English  in  the  colleges  carries  it  for  purposes  of  prepa- 
ration into  the  lower  schools,  so  that  the  English  Ian 
guage  and  with  it  English  ideas  naturally  work  their 
way  wherever  the  English-speaking  missionary  goes. 
And  now  it  has  come  to  pass,  as  Dr.  Schaff  says,  that 
"the  English  classics  are  daily  read  in  countries  of 
which  Shakespeare  and  Milton  never  heard,  and  by 
millions  who  but  recently  were  ignorant  of  the  very 
existence  of  England." 

Travel  also  and  commerce  as  well  as  the  missionary 
are  disseminating  a  knowledge  of  this  tongue.  It  is 
said  that  three  fifths  of  all  the  railroad  tickets  sold  in 
the  world  are  used  by  English-speaking  peoples.  And 
two  thirds  of  the  tonnage  of  all  the  merchant  navies 
afloat  belong  to  Anglo-Saxons.  Thus  in  all  the  ports  of 
the  world  and  along  all  routes  of  travel  you  find  Eng- 
lish taking  root.  An  intelligent  traveller '  estimates 
that  out  of  every  thousand  persons  whom  he  met  in  a 
recent  tour  around  the  world  seven  spoke  French, 
thirty-three  German,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  English. 

We  have  seen  that  the  English  language  is  better 
fitted  than  any  other  to  become,  and  that  it  is  actually 
becoming  more  and  more,  a  world -language.  Now  the 
language  of  a  race  is  a  wonderfully  truthful  expression 
of  its  thoughts,  its  feelings,  its  habits,  its  life,  its  char- 
acter, its  institutions,  its  civilization.  The  English  lan- 
guage is  no  more  pervasive  than  English  civilization. 
Evidently  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  doing  for  the  modern 
world  what  the  Greek  did  for  the  ancient.  They  each 
produced  a  civilization  characterized  by  a  high  develop  - 

1  Rev.  E.  G.  Porter. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     65 

ment  of  the  individual,  they  each  produced  an  un- 
equalled language  and  literature;  and  as  the  restless 
Greek  carried  his  language  and  civilization  around  the 
Mediterranean,  so  the  more  restless  Anglo-Saxon  is 
carrying  his  language  and  civilization  around  the 
globe.1 

3.  We  have  seen  (Chap.  Ill)  that  the  Roman  pos- 
sessed a  mastery  of  physical  conditions  and  a  genius 
for  law,  organization,  and  government  unequalled  in 
the  ancient  world.  A  glance  suffices  to  show  that  in 
the  modern  world  the  Anglo-Saxon  occupies  a  position 
of  like  pre-eminence. 

Nothing  so  well  illustrates  man's  triumph  over  na- 
ture and  his  control  of  the  physical  conditions  of  life  as 
invention,  and  in  this  sphere  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  no 
rival.  Of  important  inventions  doubtless  the  mariner's 
compass,  gunpowder,  printing,  the  steam-engine,  the 
electric  telegraph,  the  application  of  steam  to  the  print- 
ing-press, the  locomotive,  and  the  steamship  are  those 
which  have  exerted  the  most  profound  and  far-reaching 
influence  on  civilization  and  the  destiny  of  nations. 
The  first  two  originated  in  the  far  East  and  the  remote 
past.  Of  the  last  seven,  six  were  Anglo-Saxon  in  origin. 
Only  less  important  than  these  were  the  invention  or 
discovery  of  the  power-loom,  the  mule-jenny,  the 
cotton-gin,  illuminating  gas,  the  Bessemer-steel  process, 
the  sewing-machine,  the  reaper,  and  the  thrashing-ma- 
chine, all  of  which  are  Anglo-Saxon.  Almost  never  is 
the  world  indebted  to  a  single  brain  for  a  great  inven- 
tion. It  is  usually  a  development,  dependent  on  prin- 
ciples or  discoveries  made  known  perhaps  by  men  of 

1  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  Anglo  Saxons  are  the  modern  Greeks.  In 
subtilty  of  thought  the  Germans,  and  in  temperament  the  French,  resemble 
the  Greeks  much  more  than  the  Anglo-Saxons  do.  On  the  whole,  probably 
both  of  these  races  a.'e  more  Grecian  than  is  the  Anglo  Saxon,  but  here  is 
the  point  of  my  contention:  in  those  particulars  wherein  the  Greeks  ren- 
dered supreme  service  to  the  world,  viz.,  in  the  development  of  individualism, 
In  the  production  of  the  noblest  language  and  literature,  in  the  centrifugal  or 
colonizing  tendency,  in  power  to  impress  their  civilization  on  the  world,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  are  certainly  the  modern  representatives  of  the  Greeks. 


66  TUB  NE\V  ERA. 

other  races  and  other  ages.  Many  such  discoveries 
have  been  made  by  the  Italians,  French,  and  Germans, 
but  it  is  very  apt  to  be  an  Anglo-Saxon  who  seizes  on 
the  new  knowledge  and  applies  it  to  practical  use. 

Electricity  is  the  great  power  of  the  future  and  is,  no 
doubt,  destined  greatly  to  extend  man's  dominion  over 
nature ;  and  in  its  application  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  likely 
to  keep  the  lead.  At  the  International  Electrical  Expo 
sition  in  Paris,  a  few  years  since,  five  gold  medals  were 
given  for  the  greatest  inventions  or  discoveries,  all  of 
which  were  conferred  on  Americans.  "Yankee  ingenu- 
ity1' has  become  proverbial.  The  English  are  by  far  the 
most  inventive  people  of  the  Old  World,  and  the  United 
States  government  issues  four  times  as  many  patents  as 
the  English.  In  fifty-three  years,  from  1837  to  1889, 
our  Patent  Office  issued  449,928  patents,  and  in  the  one 
year  of  1889  over  21,000.  Herbert  Spencer  says  that 
"beyond  question,  in  respect  of  mechanical  appliances, 
the  Americans  are  ahead  of  all  nations." 

More  than  all  other  races  taken  together  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  control  the  world's  communications.  Fifty- 
eight  per  cent  of  all  railway  mileage  is  in  lands 
governed  by  them,  and  they  own  and  control  a  much 
larger  percentage.  Of  every  hundred  miles  of  railway 
lines  in  the  world  forty-one  are  in  the  United  States ; 
and  this  country  has  thirty  per  cent  of  all  the  tele- 
graph lines,  while  forty-six  per  cent  of  the  world's 
lines  are  in  Anglo-Saxon  territory.  This  race  sends 
more  than  one  half  of  all  the  telegraph  messages  of 
mankind,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  send 
several  million  more  in  a  year  than  the  French,  Ger- 
mans, Austrians,  Russians,  Italians,  and  Spaniards 
combined.  We  have  already  seen  that  two  thirds  of 
the  tonnage  of  the  world's  merchant-ships  is  Anglo- 
Saxon.  And  England  commands  the  gateways  of  many 
seas  and  most  of  the  great  gulfs  of  the  world. 

It  is  not  strange  that  a  race  which  has  gained  such 
mastery  of  physical  conditions  should  be  the  richest 
among  men.  Great  Britain  is  the  richest  nation  of 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     67 

Europe,  and  the  United  States  is  richer  than  Great 
Britain.  In  1880  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  possessed  nearly 
two  thirds  as  much  wealth  as  all  Continental  Europe, 
and  the  proportion  is  much  larger  now.  The  time  will 
soon  come  when  this  one  race  will  hold  more  than  one 
half  of  the  wealth  of  the  world.1 

The  most  significant  part  of  the  physical  power  of 
this  race  is  its  unparalleled  increase  and  extension, 
especially  during  the  last  century.  In  1700  it  num- 
bered less  than  6,000,000;  in  1800  it  had  increased  to 
about  20,500,000;  and  in  1890  it  could  claim  more  than 
111,000,000.  Here  is  an  increase  of  more  than  90,000,000 
within  the  memory  of  living  men.  This  has  been  due 
in  large  measure  to  the  assimilating  power  of  this  race, 
which  is  wholly  exceptional.  Conditions  are  much  more 
favorable  for  an  increasing  rate  of  growth  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  countries  than  in  Continental  Europe,  but  if  we 
reckon  the  growth  of  European  population  for  the  next 
century  at  its  rate  of  increase  from  1870  to  1880  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  at  much  less  than  its  rate  of  increase  dur- 
ing the  same  ten  years,  a  hundred  years  hence  this  one 
race  will  outnumber  all  the  peoples  of  Continental 
Europe  by  100,000,000  souls.7 

No  less  remarkable  than  the  increase  of  this  race  has 
been  its  extension.  From  its  little  island  home  it  has 
expanded  until  now  it  is  in  possession  of  a  third  portion 
of  the  earth,  and  rules  over  some  400,000,000  of  its  in- 
habitants— an  empire  several  times  more  vast  than  the 
Roman  world  when  its  eagles  flew  the  farthest. 

And  Anglo-Saxon  empire  is  not  only  more  vast  than 
Roman  ever  was,  but  possesses  elements  of  strength 
and  permanence  which  Rome  always  lacked.  Doubt- 
less there  never  was  a  time  in  its  history  when  the 
eventual  destruction  of  that  empire  was  not  sure.  Its 
very  structure  necessitated  ruin.  Conquered  peoples 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  wealth  of  the  United  States  see  Chap  X  of  the 
author's  "  Our  Country." 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  subject  see  the  Author's  "  Our  Country," 
Chap.  XIV. 


68  THE  NEW  ERA. 

were  not  coherent  because  they  were  not  assimilated. 
The  unity  of  the  empire  was  artificial.  Its  uniting 
bond  was  external,  and  whenever  it  was  sufficiently 
weakened,  as  with  the  vicissitudes  of  ages  it  must  be, 
the  unity  was  lost  and  the  empire  was  again  resolved 
into  its  constituent  elements.  This  has  not  been  the 
method  of  English  greatness.  It  is  the  glory  of  Eng- 
land, not  that  her  arms  have  been  victorious  in  every 
clime,  not  that  every  great  circle  of  the  earth  must  cross 
her  empire,  but  that  she  is  extending  her  civilization 
around  the  globe.  True,  she  has  empire  which  she 
holds  by  force  and  which  she  might  lose  by  force,  but 
North  America,  South  Africa,  and  Australia  are  hers  by 
a  different  tenure.  She  has  conquered  these  lands  by 
giving  to  them  her  sons  and  daughters,  her  free  institu- 
tions, her  noble  civilization.  England  might  be  sunk  in 
the  sea  and  these  vast  areas  would  remain  her  glory, 
loyal  to  the  essential  principles  which  she  has  given  to 
them. 

Commenting  on  this  genius  for  propagating  their 
civilization  which  characterizes  the  Anglo-Saxons,  a 
French  writer1  says:  "The  world  will  not  be  Eussian, 
nor  German,  nor  French,  alas !  nor  Spanish.  For  it 
can  be  asserted  that,  since  the  great  navigation  has 
given  the  whole  world  to  the  enterprise  of  the  European 
races,  three  nations  were  tried,  one  after  the  other,  by 
fate,  to  play  the  first  part  in  the  fortune  of  mankind, 
by  everywhere  propagating  their  tongue  and  blood,  by 
means  of  durable  colonies,  and  by  transforming,  so  to 
say,  the  whole  world  to  their  own  likeness.  During  the 
sixteenth  century  it  was  rational  to  believe  that  Span- 
ish civilization  would  spread  all  over  the  world;  but 
irremediable  vices  soon  dispersed  that  colonial  power, 
the  vestiges  of  which,  still  covering  a  vast  space,  tell 
of  its  ephemeral  grandeur.  Then  came  the  turn  of 
France;  and  Louisiana  and  Canada  have  preserved  the 
sad  remembrance  of  it.  Lastly,  England  came  for- 

1  M.  PrSvost-Paradol.    Quoted  in  "Our  Race,"  p.  11. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO  SAXON.     CO 

ward ;  she  definitely  accomplished  the  great  work :  and 
England  can  disappear  from  the  world  without  taking 
her  work  with  her — without  the  Anglo-Saxon  future  of 
the  world  being  sensibly  changed." 

Each  of  the  three  great  races  of  antiquity  developed 
a  remarkable  centrifugal  tendency,  a  movement  out- 
ward, which  was  essential  to  the  fulfilment  of  its  high 
mission.  This  same  tendency  has  made  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  the  great  colonizing  race  of  the  ages;  and  in  ful- 
filment of  its  mission  this  race  is  carrying  its  civiliza- 
tion, like  a  ring  of  Saturn — a  girdle  of  light, — around 
the  globe. 

To  prepare  the  world  for  the  coming  of  Him  who 
should  inaugurate  among  men  the  kingdom  of  God 
three  races  wrought  through  many  centuries  until  the 
necessary  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical  conditions 
were  made  ready.  These  three  spheres  all  belong  to 
that  kingdom.  It  cannot  fully  prevail  until  men  are 
brought  into  glad  obedience  to  the  harmonious  laws  of 
these  three  spheres.  Now  when  we  find  the  most 
essential  characteristics  of  these  three  races,  the  very 
ones  which  enabled  them  to  fulfil  their  mission  of  prep- 
aration, all  united  in  one  race,  does  it  not  look  as  if 
that  race  were  especially  commissioned  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  full  coming  of  God's  kingdom  in  the  earth  ? 

The  great  marvel  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  not  that 
it  has  attained  the  highest  religious  development  of  any, 
or  that  it  has  achieved  as  great  individualism  and  free- 
dom as  the  Greeks,  or  that  it  has  shown  a  mightier 
mastery  of  physical  conditions,  a  profounder  genius  for 
organization  and  government,  than  the  Romans.  The 
miracle  is  that  these  three  supreme  characteristics  are  all 
united  in  one  and  the  same  race.  A  high  development  of 
the  individual  and  a  powerful,  far-reaching  organiza- 
tion of  society  have  seemed  incompatible.  A  hundred 
civilizations  have  illustrated  the  sacrifice  of  the  one  to 
the  other,  but  here  is  a  civilization  which  combines  the 
two,  each  in  a  pre-eminent  degree.  Here  is  a  race 
unites  the  Greek  individualism  with  the  Roman 


?0  THE  NEW  ERA. 

genius  for  organization — the  only  race  in  history  which 
has  emphasized  either  of  these  two  great  principles 
without,  in  large  degree,  sacrificing  to  it  the  other.1 

And  many  would  deem  it  as  difficult  or  impossible  to 
unite  in  the  same  people  the  fundamental  character- 
istic of  the  Hebrew  with  that  of  the  Greek  as  to  unite 
the  Grecian  with  that  of  the  Roman.  Here,  says  Mr. 
Butcher 2  of  Edinburgh  University,  is  one  of  the  prob- 
lems of  modern  civilization,  "...  how  we  are  to  unite 
the  dominant  Hebrew  idea  of  a  divine  law  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  a  supreme  spiritual  faculty  with  the  Hel- 
lenic conception  of  human  energies,  manifold  and  ex- 
pansive, each  of  which  claims  for  itself  unimpeded  play ; 
how  life  may  gain  unity  without  incurring  the  reproach 
of  onesidedness ;  how,  in  a  word,  Religion  may  be  com- 
bined with  culture."  The  two  are  often  and  perhaps 
commonly  regarded  as  irreconcilable.  I  would  not  say 
as  some  do  that  these  two  principles  can  be  harmonized, 
for  that  would  concede  the  existence  of  a  discord, 
whereas  they  are  so  entirely  accordant  that  each  is 
essential  to  the  perfect  development  of  the  other.  If 
we  take  a  sufficiently  broad  view  of  both,  there  will  be 
seen  no  semblance  of  conflict.  The  application  of  the 
great  law  of  unity  in  diversity  makes  it  obvious  that 
these  two  principles  are  correlative  and  necessary  to 
each  other.  No  solution  is  to  be  found  in  compromise 
and  partition.  We  may  not  mark  off  a  part  of  the  life 
and  say,  This  is  the  proper  domain  of  religion  and 
that  of  culture.  This  is  that  old  and  pernicious  blunder 
of  dividing  life  into  the  "sacred"  and  the  "secular," 
If  culture  means  the  development  of  the  "  manifold 
and  expansive  energies  "  of  man,  let  culture  have  the 

1  The  Romans  did  not  wholly  sacrifice  individualism  to  their  genius  for 
•organization.  They  gave  play  to  the  two  principles  more  than  any  other 
ancient  people,  hence  the  superior  greatness  of  their  civilization.  There  was 
a  measure  of  liberty  under  Roman  law,  and  they  developed  a  sufficient 
individuality  to  produce  many  great  men  and  a  valuable  literature,  while 
their  wonderful  organizing  power  gave  long  life  to  the  empire.  "  It  took 
Rome  a  thousand  years  to  die." 

a  Some  Aspects  of  the  Greek  Genius,  p.  45. 


MADE  &Y  Ttifi  A&GLO-BAXOX.    n 


ichole  field,  for  the  entire  man  should  be  fully  de- 
veloped. This  is  demanded  by  a  true  individualism. 
And  if  religion  means  bringing  the  life  under  '  '  the 
divine  law  of  righteousness,"  then  let  religion  have  the 
ivhole  field,  for  mind  and  body  belong  to  God  as  truly 
as  the  spiritual  nature.  And  when  the  entire  man  is 
developed  by  a  complete  culture  which  embraces  the 
spiritual,  the  intellectual,  and  the  physical,  and  the  en- 
tire man  is  brought  into  perfect  obedience  to  God  under 
the  divine  law  of  righteousness,  then  is  perfectly  exem- 
plified the  fundamental  law  of  unity  in  diversity. 

When  such  religion  and  such  culture  are  thus  united 
in  every  member  of  the  human  family  the  race  will 
have  been  perfected,  and  there  will  then  be  a  perfect 
organization  of  society  as  well  as  perfect  individuality  ; 
for  when  men  are  brought  into  perfect  harmony  with 
God  they  will  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  each  other. 

Because  man  has  a  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical 
nature,  the  final  and  complete  civilization  must  exhibit 
a  normal  development  of  the  spiritual,  intellectual,  and 
physical  life.  These  three  elements  of  civilization  per- 
fected would  constitute  a  perfect  civilization.  As  we 
have  seen,  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Eomans  each 
afforded  an  illustration  of  one  of  these  elements  de- 
veloped to  a  remarkable  degree.  The  world  needs 
three  such  civilizations  in  one,  or  rather  it  needs  the 
three  elements  which  made  those  peoples  great  united 
in  a  single  race.  And  now  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  mankind  these  three  great  strands  pass 
through  the  fingers  of  one  predominant  race  to  be 
braided  into  a  single  supreme  civilization  in  the  new 
era,  the  perfection  of  which  will  be  the  Kingdom  fully 
come. 

A  hasty  comparison  of  the  leading  characteristics  of 
the  three  great  races  of  antiquity  with  those  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  indicates  somewhat  the  mission  of  the 
latter.  Let  us  also  compare  very  briefly  the  homes  of 
these  several  races.  That  of  the  Hebrew  was  about  the 


72  THE  NEW  BRA. 

size  of  our  state  of  New  Hampshire ;  that  of  the  Greek 
was  not  as  large  as  the  state  of  Maine;  that  of  the 
Roman  was  smaller  than  the  state  of  Montana.  The 
home  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  served  well  its  purpose  in 
the  past,  but  it  too  is  small  and  is  now  outgrown.  The 
home  of  this  great  race  of  the  future  must  be  that 
which  Prof.  Bryce  calls  "the  Land  of  the  Future." 
Scattered  as  is  this  race  over  the  earth,  more  than  one 
half  of  its  members  are  already  found  in  the  United 
States;  and  more  and  more  will  this  land  become  the 
centre  of  its  influence,  the  seat  of  its  power. 

Probably  many  Englishmen  think  of  our  states  as 
about  equal  in  size  to  their  counties.  But  of  our 
fifty-one  states  and  territories  twenty-seven  are  each 
larger  than  all  England,  while  our  entire  territory 
would  contain  England  sixty-nine  times.  Ten  of  our 
states  and  territories  are  each  larger  than  England, 
Wales,  and  Scotland ;  while  five  are  each  larger  than  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  A  Ger- 
man newspaper  points  out  the  fact  that  a  person  may 
walk  through  seven  German  states  in  seven  hours. 
Thirteen  of  the  smaller  German  states  might  all  find 
room  in  our  Connecticut,  and  Connecticut  might  be 
laid  down  in  the  state  of  Colorado  a  score  of  times ;  and 
Montana  is  larger  than  Colorado  by  42,000  square  miles. 
Make  Montana  the  Mecca  of  the  world.  Gather  into  it 
the  125,000,000 '  of  North  and  South  America,  the  380,- 
000,000  of  Europe,  the  850,000,000  of  Asia,  the  more  than 
100,000,000  of  Africa,  and  all  the  dwellers  in  the  islands 
of  the  sea — in  short,  the  nearly  1,500,000,000  of  man- 
kind, and  when  we  have  gathered  within  the  bounds  of 
this  one  state  the  entire  human  family  there  will  be 
but  fifteen  souls  to  each  acre.  And  California  is  larger 
than  Montana  by  12,000  square  miles.  Reference  has 
been  made  to  the  homes  of  the  three  great  races  among 
the  ancients.  Italy,  Greece,  and  Palestine  might  all  be 


1  These  estimates  of  population  are  from  Proceedings  of  the  Royal 
graphical  Society  for  January,  1891. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     73 

gathered  into  California  and  then  leave  ample  room  for 
a  fair-sized  kingdom.  And  Texas  is  larger  than  Cali- 
fornia by  107,000  square  miles.  Lay  Texas  on  Europe 
and  it  might  be  placed  so  as  to  include  the  capitals  of 
England,  France,  Belgium,  Switzerland,  Germany,  and 
Austria.  And  Alaska  is  more  than  twice  as  large  as 
Texas.  The  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, the  Empire  of  Germany  with  its  twenty-six  states, 
the  Republic  of  France  with  its  eighty-six  departments, 
the  kingdom  of  Greece  with  its  thirteen  nomarchies, 
and  the  Republic  of  Switzerland  with  its  twenty -two 
cantons  might  all  be  carved  out  of  this  one  territory  of 
Alaska.1 

Great  Britain  is  to-day  the  home  of  less  than  one 
third  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  And  when  this  race  has 
multiplied  tenfold,  only  an  insignificant  fraction  can 
occupy  the  mother-country.  Australia  and  South 
Africa  will  both  have  large  populations  then,  but  those 
countries  suffer  great  natural  disadvantages  compared 
with  North  America.  This  continent  constitutes  seven 
twelfths  of  the  possessions  of  this  race,  and  here  its 
empire  is  unsevered,  while  the  remaining  five  twelfths 
are  fragmentary  and  scattered  over  the  earth.  Our 
continent  lies  in  the  pathway  of  the  nations  and  be- 
longs to  the  zone  of  power ;  it  has  room  and  resources. 
It  can  be  shown  that  the  agricultural  resources  of  the 
United  States  are  equal  to  supporting  a  population  of 
1,000,000,000.  And  the  resources  of  Canada  are  only 
less  opulent.  According  to  Hon.  James  W.  Taylor, 
American  consul  at  Winnipeg,  "whose  knowledge  of 

1  Of  course  it  is  not  pretended  that  Alaska  equals  in  resources  these  coun- 
tries which  it  equals  in  area.  It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  this 
territory  is  monopolized  by  Arctic  ice  and  polar  bears.  The  climate  is  so 
modified  by  the  Pacific  "gulf  stream  "  that  at  Sitka,  the  capital,  the  tem- 
perature rarely  fulls  as  low  as  0°  F.  and  the  lowest  record  for  forty-five 
years  is  —  4°.  Besides  her  rich  fisheries  Alaska  has  great  resources  in 
timber,  grazing,  and  mining  lands.  Mr.  William  H.  Ball  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  says:  "I  come  back  convinced,  from  personal  inspection,  that 
Alaska  is  a  far  better  country  than  much  of  Great  Britain  and  Norway,  or 
even  part  of  Prussia." 


74  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  great  Northwest  has  been  for  many  years  a  na- 
tional possession,"  '  the  western  half  of  Canada  together 
with  Alaska  are  equal  in  area  to  England,  Ireland,  Scot- 
land, Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Belgium,  Holland, 
and  most  of  Germany  and  Eussia  in  Europe.  "  And  the 
productiveness  of  the  American  area,"  he  adds,  "  Avould 
surpass  that  of  the  European  one.  .  .  There  are  in  these 
sections  of  North  America  fully  200,000,000  acres  well 
adapted  to  wheat  culture."  Surely  this  majestic  con- 
tinent with  its  unequalled  resources  is  worthy  and 
destined  to  be  the  home  of  this  majestic  race.  Is  there 
no  significance  in  the  fact  that  while  the  great  races  of 
antiquity  occupied  insignificant  homes,  and  many  in- 
ferior races  have  possessed  superior  lands,  now  for  the 
first  time  in  the  record  of  history  the  greatest  race  oc- 
cupies the  greatest  hornet  What  a  conjunction,  big 
with  universal  blessings:  the  greatest  race,  the  greatest 
civilization,  the  greatest  numbers,  the  greatest  wealth, 
the  greatest  physical  basis  for  empire  ! 

No  nation  can  now  become  or  remain  a  first-class 
power  without  an  adequate  physical  basis.  The  time 
has  not  yet  come  when  the  nations  will  consent  to  be 
controlled  wholly  by  considerations  of  right  and  reason. 
It  is  still  true  that  the  argument  is  on  the  side  of  the 
heaviest  battalions;  still  true  among  nations  that  the 
weight  of  an  opinion  depends  much  on  the  fighting 
weight  of  the  government  which  utters  it.  Before  the 
machinery  of  war  was  invented  the  strength,  skill,  and 
bravery  of  the  individual  soldier  were  everything. 
Now  they  count  for  comparatively  little.  The  wars  of 
the  future  will  be  won  or  lost  by  the  national  treasury, 
the  patent  office,  and  the  census  department.  It  is 
devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  the  various  branches  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  will  sustain  such  relations  to  each 
other  in  the  future  that  their  'overwhelming  superiority 
of  power  will  be  able  to  compel  the  world's  peace  and 
deliver  the  nations  from  the  vampire  of  militarism. 

»  See  Harper's  Weekly,  Feb.  SO,  1892. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     75 

Imagine  all  the  races  of  Europe  transformed  into  one 
blood,  their  babel  of  sixty  tongues  hushed,  and  the  cus- 
tom-houses of  a  score  of  frontiers  closed.  Imagine 
these  many  lands  occupied  by  380,000,000  Anglo-Saxons, 
speaking  one  language,  having  common  institutions 
and  interests,  and  all  under  one  government.  The 
mightiest  empire  that  ever  existed  would  be  but  a  faint 
suggestion  of  the  resistless  power  of  such  a  people. 
But  this  is  only  a  picture  of  what  the  United  States  will 
be  one  century  hence.  All  Europe,  including  the  vast 
plains  of  Russia,  may  be  laid  down  within  our  national 
bounds,  and  by  a  conservative  estimate  we  shall  have  a 
population  of  373,000,000  in  1990.  "A  hundred  years 
hence,"  says  the  late  Emile  de  laveleye,1  "leaving 
China  out  of  the  question,  there  will  be  two  colossal 
powers  in  the  world,  beside  which  Germany,  England, 
France,  and  Italy  will  be  as  pygmies — the  United  States 
and  Russia."  But  Russia  is  scarcely  worthy  to  be 
named  in  this  connection.  She  will  be  great  in  num- 
bers, but  can  hardly  become  a  rival  to  Anglo-Saxondom 
in  any  other  respect.  Her  civilization  is  Asiatic  rather 
than  European.  It  suppresses  the  individual.  Such  an 
empire  can  never  excel  in  the  arts  of  peace  without 
which  she  must  remain  poor,  and  lacking  wealth  her 
military  power  will  be  insignificant  when  compared 
with  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

North  America,  the  future  home  of  this  great  race,  is 
twice  as  large  as  all  Europe  and  is  capable  of  sustaining 
the  present  population  of  the  globe.  Such  a  country, 
with  ijs  resources  fully  developed;  such  numbers, 
homogeneous  in  their  civilization;  such  a  race,  thrice 
fitted  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  full  coming  of  the 
kingdom,  must,  under  God,  control  the  world's  future. 

The  overwhelming  numbers  and  the  amazing  wealth 
of  the  future  are  not  the  only  considerations  which 
will  make  this  continent  the  great  centre  of  Anglo- 
Saxondom.  As  was  said  by  Archbishop  Ireland  in  his 

>  The  Forum,  October,  1889. 


76  THE  NEW  ERA. 

noble  discourse  at  the  Centennial  Conference  of  Ameri- 
can Catholics  at  Baltimore:  "We  cannot  but  believe 
that  a  singular  mission  is  assigned  to  America,  glorious 
for  ourselves  and  beneficent  to  the  whole  race — that  of 
bringing  forth  a  new  social  and  political  order  based, 
more  than  any  other  that  has  theretofore  existed,  upon 
the  common  brotherhood  of  man,  and  more  than  any 
other  securing  to  the  multitude  of  the  people  social 
happiness  and  equality  of  rights."  As  we  have  already 
seen,  Anglo-Saxons,  far  better  than  any  other  race, 
have  solved  the  problem  of  uniting  individualism  with 
organization;  and  Americans,  far  better  than  English- 
men, are  working  out  the  co-ordination  of  these  two 
principles  as  applied  to  government.  Parliament 
governs  the  United  Kingdom  in  a  sense  that  Congress 
does  not  govern  the  United  States.  There  authority  is 
centralized  at  Westminster;  here  it  is  distributed 
throughout  the  land.  Parliament  deals  with  a  thou- 
sand local  matters.  Edward  Everett  Hale  says  that 
when  he  was  in  London,  a  member  of  Parliament  asked 
the  government  what  they  were  going  to  do  in  the  case 
of  a  school-teacher  in  Ireland  on  whose  head,  four  years 
before,  a  blackboard  had  fallen.  "The  proper  officer 
replied.  Notice  had  been  given  in  advance  of  this  ques- 
tion. The  incident  took  five  or  ten  minutes  of  a  busy 
night.  It  was  all  in  good  faith.  It  was  not  a  bit  of 
obstruction.  Imagine  a  question  like  that  in  Washing- 
ton !  Strictly  speaking,  it  ought  to  make  a  rebellion  if 
anybody  in  Washington  presumed  to  ask  what  had  be- 
come of  a  school-mistress's  head  in  Oregon."  Congress 
is  concerned  only  with  national  affairs.  Not  only  have 
the  states  of  the  Union  each  its  separate  government, 
but  the  counties  of  each  state,  the  townships  of  each 
county,  and  even  the  school-districts  of  each  township, 
within  certain  limits,  control  their  own  affairs.  We 
have  local  self-government  which  affords  the  largest 
individual  liberty,  while  the  general  government  unites 
all  in  the  harmony  and  strength  of  a  mighty  nation. 
"  One  from  many"  perfectly  illustrates  in  the  sphere  of 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     77 

government  the  most  fundamental  law  of  the  universe, 
viz.,  unity  in  diversity.  In  adopting  E  Pluribus  Unum 
as  the  motto  of  the  United  States  our  political  fathers 
unconsciously  adopted  what  seems  to  be  God's  motto  of 
the  universe ;  and  it  will  be  the  motto  of  the  perfected 
society  toward  which  the  world  is  moving. 

Every  one  who  reads  the  signs  of  the  times  sees  a 
strong  tendency  toward  a  closer  and  more  complete 
social  organization.  The  local  self-government  in  the 
United  States,  just  mentioned,  is  eminently  favorable 
to  the  development  of  the  most  perfect  social  order, 
because  experiments  in  government  can  be  made  under 
such  conditions  with  far  greater  ease  and  safety  than 
Avhere  the  sovereign  power  is  centralized.  When  the 
action  of  Parliament  touches  social  questions  it  affects 
many  millions.  If  an  experiment  is  disastrous,  its  evil 
effects  are  far-reaching.  With  us  one  state  may  try 
experimental  legislation  without  involving  the  others. 
If  results  are  disastrous,  only  a  small  fraction  of  the 
nation  suffers  in  consequence  and  the  other  states  may 
profit  by  the  experience  of  the  one.  If  a  chemist  could 
experiment  only  on  an  immense  scale,  his  experiments 
would  doubtless  be  very  costly,  perhaps  very  dangerous, 
and  certainly  very  infrequent.  Another  chemist  who 
could  use  ounces  instead  of  tons  would  be  much  less 
conservative  and  much  more  likely  to  make  valuable 
discoveries.  Because  of  the  above  characteristics,  in 
which  our  government  differs  so  widely  from  that  of 
Great  Britain,  we  are  more  likely  than  the  English  to 
make  progress  in  social  science  which  depends  mainly 
on  experiment. 

Moreover  the  meeting  of  many  races  here  as  nowhere 
else  in  the  world,  with  equal  rights  before  the  law,  with 
like  educational,  social,  political,  and  industrial  oppor- 
tunities open  to  them,  is  peculiarly  favorable  to  the 
cr;nlic;ition  of  race  prejudice  and  the  cultivation  of  a 
broad  sympathy  which  must  precede  the  coming 
brotherhood  of  man.  Political  equality  and  brother- 
hood by  no  means  imply  each  other,  but  the  true  spirit 


78  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  democracy,  which,  as  Theodore  Parker  said,  means 
not  that  "  I'm  as  good  as  you  are  "  but  that  "  you're  as 
good  as  I  am,"  is  a  long  step  toward  fraternity.  And 
doubtless  there  is  among  all  classes  in  the  United  States 
such  a  measure  of  true  self-respect  united  with  proper 
regard  for  the  rights  of  others  as  is  hardly  possible 
among  any  people  having  aristocratic  institutions.  The 
new  social  order  based  on  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
which  we  believe  ourselves  destined  to  bring  forth  in 
the  new  era,  implies  the  intelligence,  well-being,  and 
happiness  of  the  many.  That  these  have  been  already 
achieved  among  us  to  so  exceptional  a  degree  is  a  favor- 
able comment  on  our  institutions  and  a  justification  of 
our  noble  hope.  In  the  closing  words  of  his  great  work, 
"The  American  Commonwealth,"  Mr.  Bryce  of  Cam- 
bridge, our  most  generous  yet  discriminating  critic, 
says:  "America  has  still  a  long  vista  of  years  stretch- 
ing before  her  in  which  she  will  enjoy  conditions  far 
more  auspicious  than  England  can  count  upon.  And 
that  America  marks  the  highest  level,  not  only  of  ma- 
terial well-being,  but  of  intelligence  and  happiness, 
which  the  race  has  yet  attained,  will  be  the  judgment  of 
those  who  look,  not  at  the  favored  few  for  whose  benefit 
the  world  seems  hitherto  to  have  framed  its  institutions, 
but  at  the  whole  body  of  the  people." 

In  other  important  characteristics  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  have  Americans  outgrown  the  English.  Referring 
to  individualism  the  eminent  author  just  quoted  says  ' : 
"Everything  tended  to  make  the  United  States  in  this 
respect  more  English  than  England,  for  the  circum- 
stances of  colonial  life,  the  process  of  settling  the  west- 
ern wilderness,  the  feelings  evoked  by  the  struggle 
against  George  III.,  all  went  to  intensify  individualism, 
the  love  of  enterprise,  the  pride  in  personal  freedom." 
Many  causes  have  here  operated  to  intensify  Anglo- 
Saxon  energy  and  aggressiveness.  A  stimulating 
climate,  the  undeveloped  resources  of  a  continent,  our 

J  American  Commonwealth,  Vol.  n.  pp.  406,  407. 


CONTRIBUTION  MADE  BY  THE  ANGLO-SAXON.     79 

social  and  political  institutions,  have  all  united  to  pro- 
duce the  most  forceful  and  tremendous  energy  in  the 
world.  Archdeacon  Farrar  said  in  1885:  "In  America 
I  have  been  most  struck  with  the  enormous  power, 
vivacity,  and  speed  in  every  department  of  exertion." 
Moreover  the  colonizing  tendency  of  this  race  is  here 
intensified.  It  was  those  in  whom  this  tendency  was 
strongest  who  settled  this  country,  and  this  inherited 
tendency  has  been  further  developed  by  the  westward 
sweep  of  successive  generations  across  the  continent. 

Now  what  is  the  interpretation  of  these  facts?  "  It 
seems  to  me  that  God,  with  infinite  wisdom  and  skill, 
is  here  training  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  for  an  hour  sure 
to  come  in  the  world's  future.  Heretofore  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  there  has  always  been  a  comparatively 
unoccupied  land  westward  into  which  the  crowded 
countries  of  the  East  have  poured  their  surplus  popula- 
tions. But  the  widening  waves  of  migration,  which 
millenniums  ago  rolled  east  and  west  from  the  valley  of 
the  Euphrates,  meet  to-day  on  our  Pacific  coast.  There 
are  no  more  new  worlds.  The  unoccupied  arable  lands 
of  the  earth  are  limited,  and  will  soon  be  taken.  The 
time  is  coming  when  the  pressure  of  population  on  the 
means  of  subsistence  will  be  felt  here  as  it  is  now  felt  in 
Europe  and  Asia.  Then  will  the  world  enter  on  a  new 
stage  of  its  history — the  final  competition  of  races,  for 
which  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  being  schooled.  Long  before 
the  thousand  millions  are  here,  the  mighty  centrifugal 
tendency  inherent  in  this  stock  and  strengthened  in 
the  United  States  will  assert  itself.  Then  this  race  of 
unequalled  energy,  with  all  the  majesty  of  numbers 
and  the  might  of  wealth  behind  it — the  representative, 
let  us  hope,  of  the  largest  liberty,  the  purest  Christi- 
anity, the  highest  civilization — having  developed  pecu- 
liarly aggressive  traits  calculated  to  impress  its  institu- 
tions upon  mankind,  will  spread  itself  over  the  earth. 
And  can  any  one  doubt  that  the  result  of  this  competi- 
tion of  races  will  be  the  survival  of  the  fittest  ? "  '  Is  it 

>  The  Author's  "  Our  Country,"  p.  222. 


80  THE  NEW  ERA. 

not  reasonable  to  believe  that  this  race  is  destined  to 
dispossess  many  weaker  ones,  assimilate  others,  and 
mould  the  remainder,  until,  in  a  very  true  and  import- 
ant sense,  it  has  Anglo-Saxonized  mankind  ? 

I  have  only  to  add  in  conclusion  a  few  corollaries.  • 

1.  Both  good  and  evil  have  a  longer  leverage  in  the 
United  States  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

2.  The  importance  to  mankind  and  to  the  coming 
Kingdom  of  guarding  against  the  deterioration  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  stock  in  the  United  States  by  immigration. 
There  is  now  being  injected  into  the  veins  of  the  nation 
a  large  amount  of  inferior  blood  every  day  of  every 
year. 

3.  The   importance  of  annihilating   the    saloon    and 
every  other  agency  which  is  devitalizing  and  corrupt- 
ing our  population. 

4.  He  does  most  to  Christianize  the  world  and  to 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  who  does  most  to 
make  thoroughly  Christian  the  United  States.     I  do  not 
imagine  that  an  Anglo  Saxon  is  any  dearer  to  God  than 
a   Mongolian    or  an  African.     My  plea   is  not,   Save 
America  for  America's  sake,  but,  Save  America  for  the 
world's  sake. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  world  is  evidently  about  to 
enter  on  a  new  era,  that  in  this  new  era  mankind  is  to 
come  more  and  more  under  Anglo-Saxon  influence,  and 
that  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  is  more  favorable  than 
any  other  to  the  spread  of  those  principles  whose 
universal  triumph  is  necessary  to  that  perfection  of  the 
race  to  which  it  is  destined;  the  entire  realization  of 
which  will  be  the  kingdom  of  heaven  fully  come  on 
earth.  We  have  seen  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  accumu- 
lating irresistible  power  with  which  to  press  the  die  of 
his  civilization  upon  the  world.  But  this  die  is  by  no 
means  completely  cut  as  yet  and  fit  for  its  work.  Our 
civilization  is  only  partially  Christianized.  And  it  is 
this  fact  which  accounts  for  the  existence  of  the  great 
problems  which  vex  modern  society  and  shame  our  best 
wisdom. 

If,  as  many  belnve,  we  are  entering  on  a  transition 
state,  it  is  criticall;  important  that  our  plastic  institu- 
tions be  brought  under  the  moulding  hand  of  Christ, 
and  that  hi.-  teachings  be  recognized  as  binding  on  all 
men,  not  only  in  their  relations  with  God,  but  also  in 
their  daily  relations  one  with  another. 

Of  course  the  church  accepts  Christ's  teachings  as 
authoritative,  though  we  shall  see  later  that  it  explains 
away  an  important  part  of  them.  But  I  am  writing  for 
a  large  class  outside  the  church  as  well  as  for  those  in 
it,  for  men  who  are  deeply  interested  in  social  and  in- 
dustrial reform,  but  who  look  for  no  help  from  the 
church  or  its  Founder;  who  do  not  see  that  the  most 

81 


82  THE  NEW  ERA. 

reasonable  hope  of  gaining  industrial  peace  is  through 
Him  who  came  to  bring  "  peace  on  earth,"  and  who  do 
not  know  that  the  only  hope  of  realizing  their  dreams 
of  a  brotherhood  of  man  is  through  Him  who  revealed 
the  fatherhood  of  God.  Indeed,  many  of  this  class 
believe  that  we  know  too  little  of  Jesus  to  be  able  to 
determine  whether  the  character  attributed  to  him  in 
the  Gospels  is  real  or  ideal  and  whether  the  words 
ascribed  to  him  were  actually  uttered  by  him  or  not. 
For  such  I  wish  to  show  that  the  character  and  life 
portrayed  in  the  Gospels  is  beyond  a  peradventure 
genuine. 

Moreover,  it  will  do  no  harm  to  confirm  the  faith  of 
the  churches,  for  we  live  in  an  age  of  doubt.  The 
growth  of  science  has  created  the  scientific  habit  of 
mind  which  accepts  nothing  on  mere  authority.  Be- 
liefs are  no  longer  sacred  simply  because  they  were 
held  by  the  fathers.  The  application  of  the  scientific 
method  to  history  has  dissipated  into  myth  or  legend 
much  that  the  fathers  held  as  substantial  reality.  Fur- 
thermore, it  has  been  a  mischievous  mistake  on  the 
part  of  many  Christians  to  build  their  faith  not  solely 
on  Christ,  the  Rock  of  Ages,  but  partly  and  largely  on 
the  shifting  sands  of  human  theories ;  and  as  the  prog- 
ress of  knowledge  has  destroyed  these  human  founda- 
tions, the  faith  of  many  has  perished  with  them.  Not 
a  few  are  saying  to-day  that  if  they  are  compelled  to 
surrender  their  belief  in  the  inerrancy  of  Scripture, 
their  faith  in  Christianity  will  have  to  go  with  it.  That 
would  be  a  sacrifice  as  gratuitous  as  sad.  Nothing  can 
shake  my  confidence  in  Christianity  which  does  not 
shake  my  confidence  in  the  genuineness  of  the  life  and 
character  of  Christ,  for  he  is  the  only  true  foundation 
of  the  Christian  faith.  It  has  been  said  that  Romanism 
is  the  religion  of  a  church,  and  that  Protestantism  is  the 
religion  of  a  book.  Both  church  and  Bible  are  neces- 
sary, but  all  true  Christianity,  whether  Protestant 
or  Roman  Catholic,  is  the  religion  of  a  person,  centred 
in  Christ  and  drawing  its  life  and  power  from  him. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  83 

There  are  many,  in  the  church  as  well  as  out  of  it, 
who  need  to  learn  that  Christianity  is  neither  a  creed 
nor  a  ceremonial,  but  a  life  vitally  connected  with  the 
living  Christ. 

For  all,  therefore,  who  base  their  hope  of  eternal  life 
on  the  truth  Oi  Christianity,  for  those  who  see  in  it  the 
great  uplifting  power  for  perfecting  the  race,  and  for 
those  who  are  raising  the  question  whether  it  has  spent 
its  force  and  exhausted  its  vitality,  there  can  be  no 
more  fundamental  inquiry  than  this:  Are  the  char- 
acter and  life  presented  in  the  Gospels  genuine  ? 

No  one  questions  that  in  the  time  of  Tiberius  there 
was  a  man  called  Jesus,  who  was  put  to  death  by  the 
procurator  Pontius  Pilate,  whose  doctrines  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  Roman  world,  whose  followers 
worshipped  him  as  God  and  lived  lives  of  remarkable 
purity.  Thus  much  is  not  a  matter  of  inference  or 
faith,  but  of  established  fact.  Had  the  Gospels  never 
been  written,  we  should  ku^w  as  much  as  this  from 
Tacitus,  Suetonius,  Juvenal,  Adrian,  Pliny,  and  others. 
But  all  this  being  beyond  d  ^ubt,  thore  is  still  room  for 
the  questions,  Is  the  character  ascribed  to  Jesus  in  the 
Gospels  genuine  ?  Was  the  life  there  recorded  really 
lived  ? 

Those  who  answer  these  questions  in  the  negative 
must  resort  to  one  of  two  theories  or  to  both  in  part  to 
account  for  the  character  and  life  presented  in  the  Gos- 
pels, viz.,  either  that  additions  to  the  truth  were  in- 
vented with  intention  to  deceive,  or  that  they  grew  up 
unconsciously  out  of  the  ideals  of  the  people  and  were 
gradually  crystallized  in  the  form  of  myths  around  the 
historical  facts  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  We  will  consider 
the  latter  first. 

I.  This  theory  assumes  that  Jesus  was  a  great  man, 
but  holds  that  the  character  and  life  depicted  in  the 
Gospels  are  seen  through  the  mists  of  legend  or  myth 
and,  like  all  objects  seen  through  a  fog,  are  magnified. 
Let  us  judge  whether  the  men  of  Christ's  age  and  na- 
tion were  capable  of  magnifying  even  a  great  man  into 


84  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  incomparable  character  before  us — the  most  master- 
ful of  history. 

Every  people  and  evory  generation  has  its  own 
"climate  of  opinion."  Popular  standards  and  the  at- 
mosphere in  which  we  live  have  become  Christianized 
to  such  an  extent  that  we  now  take  for  granted,  or 
regard  as  the  normal  outgrowth  ot  human  nature, 
many  things  of  which  the  world  before  Christ  had  no 
conception.  Ideas  of  right  and  noble  sentiments  are 
now  become  commonplace  and  are  regarded  as  ele- 
mentary which  the  greates,  minds  before  Christ  had 
perceived  only  dimly  or  not  at  11.  It  is,  therefore, 
very  difficult  for  us  to  appreciate  how  entirely  strange 
and  even  contrary  to  all  preconceived  ideas  were  many 
of  the  teachings  of  Christ  to  the  men  of  his  generation, 
and  how  incapable  were  such  minds  of  originating  the 
utterances  attributed  to  him. 

Christ  belonged  to  a  narrrw  age.  No  people  found 
much  to  admire  in  the  world  beyond  th  ir  own  national 
horizon.  The  Greeks  had  one  word  f  r  stranger  and 
barbarian.  Plato  divided  mankind  into  "Barbarians 
and  Hellenes,"  which  reminds  us  of  a  similar  division 
into  "Jews  and  Gentiles."  Among  the  Romans  the 
same  word  meant  stranger  and  enemy.  The  Jews  were 
the  most  intensely  narrow  and  intolerant  of  all  races. 
They  entertained  a  supreme  contempt  for  everything 
non- Jewish  and  a  bitter  hatred  toward  all  Gentiles. 
Every  Gentile  child  was  regarded  unclean  as  soon  as 
born.  All  heathen  and  their  belongings  were  polluted 
and  held  in  abhorrence  and  were  to  be  altogether 
avoided  except  in  cases  of  necessity  or  for  the  sake  of 
business.  Heathen  were  not  to  be  delivered  from  peril. 
The  Mishna  forbids  aid  to  a  mother  in  the  hour  of  her 
need,  or  nourishment  to  her  babe.1  It  was  held  that 
even  the  good  deeds  of  the  Gentiles  were  reckoned  to 
them  as  sins.  According  to  a  rabbinical  proverb,  they 
looked  coolly  upon  their  own  proselytes  until  the 

1  Edersheim's  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  I.  p.  91. 


THE  ^AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  85 

twenty-fourth  generation.  "  If  a  heretic  returned  to  the 
true  faith,  he  should  die  at  once — partly,  probably,  to 
expiate  his  guilt,  and  partly  for  fear  of  relapse."  '  Such 
were  the  people  whom  we  are  asked  to  believe  origi- 
nated the  legends  which  enlarged  and  rounded  out  the 
figure  of  Jesus  into  a  generic  character  as  broad  as  the 
race  and  as  comprehensive  as  the  ages. 

The  conception,  the  teachings,  the  plans  of  the  char- 
acter found  in  the  Gospels  were  as  wide  as  the  world. 
God  so  loved  not  the  Jews  only  but  "  the  icorld"  that 
he  sent  his  Son.  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature."  "Whosoever,"  "all," 
"every  one,"  "any  man,"  "all  nations,"  "all  men," 
"the  earth,"  "the  world,"  are  frequently -recurring 
words. 

This  character  is  represented  as  singularly  tolerant. 
When  Christ's  disciples  said  to  him,  "Master,  we  saw 
one  casting  out  devils  in  thy  name ;  and  we  forbade 
him,  because  he  followeth  not  with  us,"  he  answered, 
"Forbid  him  not;  for  he  that  is  not  against  us  is  for 
us."  2  He  said  to  the  Samaritan,  "Woman,  believe  me, 
the  hour  cometh,  when  ye  shall  neither  in  this  moun- 
tain, nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father;  .  .  . 
when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father 
in  spirit  and  in  truth:  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to 
worship  him." 3  Dr.  Schenkel,  a  rationalistic  theologian, 
calls  these  words  ' '  the  grandest  of  all  speeches  in  defence 
of  tolerance."  4 

Christ  did  not  fiercely  denounce  those  who  persecuted 
him  or  his  disciples,  but  said  "the  time  cometh,  that 
whosoever  killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth  God 
service."  5  Many  men  treat  a  difference  of  opinion  as  if 
it  were  intended  as  a  personal  affront,  but  in  this  pas- 
sage Christ  attributed  the  best  of  motives  to  those  who 
should  martyr  his  followers.  He  recognized  their  sin- 
cerity and  put  the  most  generous  and  charitable  con- 

1  Edersheim's  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  I.  p.  91.  a  Luke  ix.  49,  50. 

1  John  iv.  21-23.  *  Quoted  by  Prof.  Christlieb,  Modern  Doubt,  p.  857. 

4  Jobn  zri.  2. 


86  THE  NEW  ERA. 

struction  on  their  persecutions.  In  such  charity,  how 
many  centuries  was  Christ  in  advance  of  his  age  !  In- 
deed, it  would  seem  that  our  own  times  have  not  as  yet 
altogether  overtaken  his  teaching.  The  "odium  theo- 
logicum"  still  finds  common  illustration.  It  is  not 
many  generations  since  good  men  burned  good  men  and 
saintly  women  for  honest  difference  of  opinion.  And  it 
is  only  about  thirty  years  since  a  Calvinist  in  New  Eng- 
land, a  man  of  undoubted  piety  and  of  great  reputed 
learning  and  ability,  when  asked  if  any  of  the  Metho- 
dists (or  Arminians,  as  they  were  then  called)  could  be 
saved,  replied  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  "  Not  one!" 

This  generation  is  more  charitable,  but  many  a  man 
in  this  day  lays  the  flattering  unction  to  his  soul  that  he 
is  "tolerant,"  "liberal-minded,"  when  in  point  of  fact 
he  is  so  shallow-souled  as  to  be  simply  indifferent  to  all 
truth,  and  perhaps  indifferent  to  wickedness  as  well — a 
more  dangerous  state  of  mind  than  that  of  the  bigot, 
and  a  more  contemptible  character.  The  bigot  is  nar- 
row, but  intense.  He  believes  something  firmly  enough 
to  sacrifice  for  it — other  people,  at  least,  and  very  likely 
himself. 

Now,  Christ  was  so  far  from  being  indifferent  to  the 
truth  that  under  the  shadow  of  the  cross  he  exclaimed, 
"  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into 
the  world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth."  1 
He  was  absolutely  loyal  to  the  truth  and  at  the  same 
time  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others  and  of  their  con- 
duct also,  provided  it  seemed  conscientious.  "Whence 
came  such  exalted  character?  Anything  like  a  large 
tolerance  has  never  been  general  until  recent  times,  and 
even  now  good  men  follow  their  Master  afar  off  and 
limpingly.  Can  we  believe  that  in  a  far  more  intolerant 
age  the  most  bigoted  of  races,  on  whom  intense  narrow- 
ness had  been  inculcated  as  a  religious  duty,  originated 
conceptions  of  tolerance  so  far  in  advance  not  of  that 
age  only  but  also  of  this  ? 

1  John  xviii.  37. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  87 

The  love  which  Christ  inculcated  and  manifested  was 
far  more  wonderful  than  his  tolerance.  The  Pharisees 
taught  that  every  enemy  was  to  he  hated,  and  that 
every  one  who  was  not  a  Jew  was  an  enemy.  To  he 
guilty  of  belonging  to  any  Gentile  race  was  to  be  worthy 
of  hatred,  but  to  be  a  Eoman  was  to  be  abhorred.  No 
thought  was  sweeter  to  the  Jew  than  that  of  vengeance 
on  his  Eoman  oppressor.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  impossible  to  the  nation  while  under  that  yoke 
than  such  a  popular  state  of  mind  or  heart  as  would 
give  rise  and  currency  to  legends  which  taught  the  pos- 
sibility and  duty  of  loving  their  Roman  masters. 

The  love  of  man  as  man  implies  an  estimate  of  hu- 
manity which  was  not  held  by  any  ancient  people  be- 
fore Christ.  The  Jew  respected  Jewish  nature,  but  not 
human  nature.  The  highest  Greek  philosophy  had  no 
respect  for  man  as  such.  Not  only  were  foreigners 
despised,  but  the  common  people  of  their  own  race  also. 
The  Romans  were  broader  than  the  Jews  or  Greeks  and 
admitted  many  aliens  to  citizenship,  but  their  treatment 
of  slaves  and  of  their  own  children  shows  that  they  saw 
in  human  nature  no  intrinsic  grandeur  or  worth.  "  In- 
dividual right  and  respect  for  human  personality  found 
no  place  in  Greece  or  Rome."  J  Slaves  were  mutilated 
and  maimed,  and  their  flesh  was  sometimes  used  to 
fatten  the  fish  of  their  Roman  lords.  Captured  in  war 
or  purchased  of  pirates  for  a  few  sesterces,  a  slave 
might  be  of  noble  blood,  might  have  more  learning  or 
rarer  accomplishments  than  his  master,  he  might  even 
possess  genius,  but  because  he  lacked  power  he  was 
entitled  to  no  respect.  He  had  no  more  right  to  a  will 
than  a  dead  man  or  a  brute. 

It  was  common  for  Roman  parents  to  expose  their 
new-born  infants  to  wild  beasts  and  birds  of  prey  or  to 
the  more  horrible  fate  of  being  rescued  for  the  vilest 
purposes.  Quintilian  says  that  "  to  kill  a  man  is  often 
held  to  be  a  crime,  but  to  kill  one's  own  children  is 

1  Schmidt's  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  76. 


88  THE  NEW  ERA. 

sometimes  considered  a  beautiful  action  among  the 
Romans."1  And  Seneca  writes:  "Monstrous  offspring 
we  destroy;  children  too,  if  weak  and  unnaturally 
formed  from  birth,  we  drown.  It  is  not  anger,  but 
reason,  thus  to  separate  the  useless  from  the  sound."  2 
Thus  it  appears  that  use,  not  inherent  worth,  was  the 
criterion  by  which  the  value  of  human  nature  was 
measured.  The  famous  apothegm  of  Terence,  "I  am  a 
man,  and  nothing  of  man  is  foreign  to  me,"  might  seem 
to  indicate  a  broad  humanity,  but  the  admirable  things 
said  of  man  by  the  Greek  and  Roman  sages  were 
spoken  only  of  the  freeman.  "He  who  was  neither  a 
freeman  nor  a  citizen  was  not  looked  upon  by  them  as  a 
man  at  all,  but  only  as  a  chattel."  3  The  utter  empti- 
ness of  this  beautiful  sentiment  of  Terence  is  shown  by 
the  fact  which  has  often  been  pointed  out,  that  the  man 
who  utters  it  is  the  very  father  who  earlier  in  the  play 
had  rebuked  his  wife  for  exposing  their  child  instead  of 
killing  it  as  he  had  previously  commanded. 

The  Roman  father  had  unlimited  power  over  his  chil- 
dren. He  could  put  them  in  chains,  sell  them  into 
slavery,  or  kill  them.  And  he  frequently  exercised  this 
power.  Nor  were  such  practices  at  all  peculiar  to  the 
Romans.  The  same  powers,  modified  by  Mosaic  legisla- 
tion, were  possessed  by  the  Hebrew  father.  The  preva- 
lence of  such  customs  and  the  universality  of  slavery 
indicate  that  men  had  not  yet  conceived  of  the  inherent 
dignity  and  worth  of  human  nature  taught  by  Christ. 

Until  modern  times,  few  things  have  been  as  cheap  as 
human  life.  We  hardly  need  to  remind  ourselves  of 
the  countless  numbers,  during  centuries,  "butchered  to 
make  a  Roman  holiday."  Trajan  in  a  hundred  and 
twenty -three  days  forced  10,000  prisoners  and  gladiators 
to  fight  to  the  death  in  the  amphitheatre.  We  are  told 4 
that  in  "  Christian"  England  72,000  thieves  and  robbers 

i  Quoted  in  Gesta  Christ),  p.  73. 

11  De  Ira,  1. 15.    Quoted  by  Brace  in  Gesta  Christi. 

3  Schmidt's  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  76. 

4  Hume,  Chap.  XXXHL 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  89 

suffered  the  death  penalty  during  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  when  the  population  was  only  about  one  seventh 
of  what  it  is  now;  and  in  one  year  300  beggars  were 
executed  for  soliciting  alms.  Late  in  the  eighteenth 
century  the  value  of  human  life  was  so  small  that 
Edmund  Burke  said  he  could  obtain  the  assent  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  any  bill  imposing  the  punishment 
of  death.  "  It  seems,  at  first,  that  there  can  scarcely  be 
two  hundred  and  twenty -three  human  actions  worthy 
even  of  the  mildest  censure.  But  our  stern  fathers 
found  that  number  worthy  of  death.  If  a  man  injured 
Westminster  Bridge,  he  was  hanged.  If  he  appeared 
disguised  on  a  public  road,  he  was  hanged.  If  he  cut 
down  young  trees;  if  he  shot  at  rabbits;  if  he  stole 
property  valued  at  five  shillings ;  if  he  stole  anything  at 
all  from  a  bleachfield ;  if  he  wrote  a  threatening  letter 
to  extort  money;  if  he  returned  prematurely  from 
transportation, — for  any  of  these  offences  he  was  imme- 
diately hanged."  '  Early  in  the  present  century,  coun- 
terfeiting the  stamps  that  were  used  for  the  sale  of 
perfumery  or  hair-powder  was  punishable  with  death. 
In  colonial  times,  the  laws  of  Virginia  made  absence 
from  church  services  a  crime,  and  for  the  third  offence 
prescribed  the  death  penalty.  So  slow  has  the  world 
been  to  learn  the  sacredness  of  human  life.  But  see 
how  Christ  appraised  every  human  being,  not  simply 
the  physical  life  but  the  essential  man,  whose  worth  is 
such  as  to  give  dignity  and  value  to  all  that  pertains  to 
him.  He  taught  that  God  numbered  every  hair  of  the 
head,2  and  that  a  whole  world  would  not  compensate  for 
the  loss  of  a  single  soul.3  He  restored  the  sick  and 
withheld  not  his  healing  touch  from  the  loathsome 
leper.  He  identified  himself  with  the  obscurest  of  his 
followers.4  He  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  human  nature 
in  the  respect  which  he  showed  to  little  children.6  His 
treatment  of  them  was  "utterly  contrary  to  all  Jewish 


»  Mackenzie's  Hist.  Nineteenth  Century,  pp.  77,  78.       »  Matt.  x. ; 
'  Matt.  xvi.  26.       *  Matt.  xxv.  40.       •  Mark  x.  18-16. 


90  THE  NEW  ERA. 

notions  and  incompatible  with  the  supposed  dignity  of 
a  rabbi."  '  But  his  interest  in  men  when  ruined  and  de- 
praved placed  a  still  higher  estimate  on  the  worth  of 
every  man.  The  return  of  one  such  to  a  righteous  life 
was  an  event  of  sufficient  consequence  to  be  celebrated 
in  heaven.2  He  represents  the  Good  Shepherd  as  seek- 
ing the  one  wandering  sheep  until  he  finds  it  and  brings 
it  home  with  joy.  His  estimate  of  the  value  of  every 
human  being  is  strikingly  shown  by  his  interview  with 
the  woman  of  Samaria.  According  to  Jewish  ideas 
there  should  be  no  needless  conversation  with  a  woman, 
and  to  instruct  a  woman  in  the  law  was  forbidden.8 
Not  only  did  this  woman  belong  to  a  people  held  in 
peculiar  contempt  by  the  Jews,  but  she  was  a  woman  of 
bad  character — a  member  of  a  class  despised  among  a 
despised  people.  This  woman,  who  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Jews  was  superlatively  worthless  and  altogether  con- 
temptible, Christ  instructed  and  reclaimed,  and,  by  de- 
claring to  her  his  Messiahship,  conspicuously  honored. 

By  his  teachings  and  death  Christ  has  given  to  the 
world  a  new  conception  of  man.  He  has  been  called  the 
discoverer  of  the  individual.4  In  harmony  with  the 
high  estimate  which  he  placed  on  human  nature  was  his 
respect  for  the  poor.  "  The  poor  represent  man  stripped 
of  all  extrinsic  attributes  of  honor,  and  reduced  to  that 
which  is  common  to  all  mankind.  On  this  naked  hu- 
manity the  world  has  ever  set  little  value.  It  begins 
to  interest  itself  in  a  man  when  he  is  clothed  with  some 
outward  distinction  of  wealth  or  birth  or  station.  A 
mere  man  is  a  social  nobody.  Christ,  on  the  other 
hand,  highly  valued  in  man  only  his  humanity,  account- 
ing nothing  he  could  possess  of  such  importance  as  what 
he  himself  was  or  might  become."  6  In  founding  his 
kingdom  Christ  sought  his  adherents  and  chose  his  dis- 

1  Edersheim's  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  H.  p.  336. 
»  Luke  xv.  10. 

3  Edersheim's  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  n.  p.  418. 

4  Stalker's  Imago  Cbristi,  p.  58. 

•  Bruce's  Kingdom  of  God,  p.  130. 


THE  AUTHOKITATIVE  TEACHER.  91 

ciples  from  among  the  poor.  Men  who  seek  kingdoms 
or  think  to  transform  society  aim  to  acquire  influence . 
in  the  high  places  of  the  earth.  Christ  began  with  the 
lowly,  not  as  the  partisan  of  a  class,  but  because  he  saw 
what  men  are  only  now  beginning  to  see,  that  in  order 
to  uplift  society  we  must  commence  at  the  bottom.  He 
perceived  what  the  world  did  not  discover  until  nearly 
two  thousand  years  later,  that  the  so-called  "common 
people  "  are  the  most  important  to  the  nation  and  to  the 
world.  It  is  because  Christ  recognized  the  value  of 
human  nature,  aside  from  position  or  possession,  that 
Lowell  called  him  ' '  the  first  true  democrat  that  ever 
breathed."  ' 

The  breadth  of  the  character  presented  in  the  Gospels 
has  been  briefly  illustrated  by  its  tolerance,  its  all-in- 
clusive love,  its  high  estimate  of  human  nature,  and  its 
respect  for  the  poor.  These  conceptions  are  as  much 
broader  than  were  the  ideas  of  the  Jews  as  the  world  is 
broader  than  Palestine. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  spiritual  elevation  of  this 
character. 

The  religion  of  the  Jews  had  degenerated  into  mere 
externalism.  The  rabbis  had  prescribed  an  enormous 
number  of  rules  to  cover  the  entire  field  of  human  con- 
duct, providing  for  every  possible  and  impossible  case. 
Religion  had  become  ritualistic,  and  consisted  in  the 
observance  of  forms  and  ceremonies.  There  was  here 
and  there  a  devout  soul,  but  the  nation  had  lost  its 
spiritual  life  and  of  course  its  spiritual  perception. 

The  Messiah,  for  whose  coming  the  nation  looked 
with  passionate  longing,  was  not  thought  of  as  a  saviour 
from  sin,  but  as  a  king  who  should  bring  deliverance 
from  the  galling  yoke  of  the  hated  Roman  and  accom- 
plish the  national  restoration.  Much  less  was  he 
thought  of  as  the  saviour  of  other  peoples.  Whatever 
differences  may  have  existed  on  other  points  among  the 
Jews  scattered  over  the  world,  all  agreed  on  this,  that 

» Democracy,  p.  21. 


93  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  Messiah  was  to  come  as  the  king  and  deliverer  of 
their  nation  and  the  conqueror  of  all  others.  He  was  to 
be  a  typical  Israelite.  Not  only  the  predictions  but  also 
the  history  and  institutions  of  the  nation  were  to  find 
their  consummate  flower  and  fruitage  in  him.  He  was 
to  be  "alike  the  crown,  the  completion,  and  the  repre- 
sentative of  Israel."  '  The  popular  mind  was  so  steeped 
in  the  conviction  that  the  Messiah  was  to  bring,  not  a 
spiritual  salvation  for  the  world,  but  a  political  salvation 
for  the  nation,  that  even  those  who  had  been  for  three 
years  under  Christ's  tuition  failed  to  perceive  the 
spiritual  character  of  the  kingdom  which  he  had  come 
to  establish,  and  only  a  short  time  before  his  death  his 
disciples,  like  so  many  spoilsmen,  quarrelled  over  the 
division  of  the  expected  prize." 

Instead  of  resorting  to  arms  as  the  nation  expected 
and  desired,  Jesus  foretold  that  he  would  conquer  his 
kingdom  by  the  cross ! 3  Nothing  could  be  more  in- 
conceivable to  the  Jews.  It  is  perhaps  impossible  for 
us  to  dissociate  from  the  cross  the  meaning  which  has 
gathered  to  it  during  these  nineteen  Christian  centuries. 
It  is  inseparably  associated  with  that  which  is  deepest 
in  Christian  experience  and  most  sacred  in  religious 
feeling.  It  has  entered  into  poetry,  architecture,  and 
art,  has  become  the  most  beautiful  and  significant  of  all 
symbols,  and  is  recognized  as  the  invincible  standard  of 
an  all-conquering  faith.  But  to  the  ancient  Jew  it  was 
only  hideous.  It  meant  to  him  all  that  the  gallows 
means  to  us,  with  the  added  horror  of  prolonged  torture. 
It  was  the  sign  of  helpless  and  suffering  ignominy. 
Cicero  somewhere  says  the  cross  was  not  to  be  men- 
tioned in  polite  society.  The  idea  of  a  king's  winning 
his  kingdom  by  means  of  death,  and  death  on  the  cross, 
must  have  struck  men  as  superlatively  absurd.  The 
cross  and  the  Messianic  glory  were  farther  apart  in  the 
Jewish  mind  than  the  East  and  the  West.  The  spiritual 
significance  of  the  cross  was  at  an  impossible  height 

'  Edersheim,  Vol.  I.  p.  161.          »  Matt,  xx  80-84.          »  John  xii.  38. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  93 

above  the  Jewish  imagination.  So  far  were  the  dis- 
ciples from  originating  the  conception  that  they  could 
not  comprehend  it  when  Christ  unfolded  it  to  them. 

The  dignity  and  blessedness  of  service  is  another 
truth  which  was  above  the  comprehension  of  that  gen- 
eration. It  contradicted  custom,  opinion,  and  inclina- 
tion. To  serve  was  menial;  slavery  degraded  labor. 
Power  existed  for  the  gratification  of  its  possessor.  The 
emperor  was  servant  of  none  and  was  served  by  all. 
"But  it  shall  not  be  so  among  you;  but  whosoever  will 
be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister;  and 
whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your 
servant."  '  This  generation  acknowledges  that  service 
is  one  of  the  fundamental  law-s  of  society ;  the  ruler  of 
England  is  her  first  minister,  and  president,  king,  and 
emperor  profess  themselves  the  servants  of  the  people. 

Christ  uttered  other  spiritual  truths  which  have  been 
only  very  partially  apprehended  and  accepted  as  yet 
and  which  anticipate  the  perfect  society  of  the  future. 

The  principles  of  his  teachings  are  believed  by  the 
best  modern  thinkers  to  furnish  the  solution  of  the 
great  problems  of  modern  society.  Says  Mr.  Gladstone : 
"  Talk  about  the  questions  of  the  day;  there  is  but  one 
question,  and  that  is  the  Gospel.  It  can  and  will 
correct  everything  needing  correction."  Prince  Bis- 
marck asks  for  social  well-being  nothing  more  than 
"  Christianity  without  phrases."  The  Hon.  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  Chief  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Labor,  says: 
"  I  believe  that  in  the  adoption  of  the  philosophy  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  practical  creed  for  the 
conduct  of  business  lies  the  surest  and  speediest  solu- 
tion of  those  industrial  difficulties  which  are  exciting 
the  minds  of  men  to-day,  and  leading  many  to  think 
that  the  crisis  of  government  is  at  hand."  Prof.  R.  T. 
Ely  declares  that  from  the  study  of  political  economy  he 
has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  "  the  remedy  for  social 
discontent  and  dynamite  bombs  is  Christianity  as 

i  Matt.  xx.  26,  87. 


94  THE  NEW  ERA. 

taught  in  the  New  Testament."  '  And  Herbert  Spencer, 
"  the  most  distinguished  living  sociologist,  studying 
human  beings  in  their  social  relations,  and  interrogat- 
ing experience  to  find  the  right  rule  for  their  guidance, 
reaches,  after  much  careful  study,  the  very  law  laid 
down  by  Jesus  Christ  nineteen  hundred  years  ago."  a 

How  are  we  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the  utter- 
ances ascribed  to  Christ  have  such  a  forward  reach 
that,  stretching  over  the  heads  of  nearly  threescore 
generations,  they  anticipate  the  loftiest  moral  and 
spiritual  conceptions  of  our  own  day  and  are  echoed  in 
the  ripest  conclusions  of  modern  social  science  ?  Which 
is  the  more  reasonable,  to  ascribe  these  sayings  to  a 
wholly  unique  person,  whom  we  know  to  be  historic,  or 
to  the  unconscious  wisdom,  the  legendary  growths  of  a 
generation  which  could  not  comprehend  their  meaning  ? 
Were  men  who  had  become  spiritually  blind,  whose 
religion  consisted  in  forms,  who  tithed  mint,  anise,  and 
cummin  and  omitted  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith,  who 
piously  strained  out  the  gnat  of  ceremonial  uncleanness 
and  calmly  swallowed  camels  of  moral  depravity,  men 
whose  lives  had  been  emptied  of  principles  and  smoth- 
ered with  rules— were  such  the  men  to  give  to  the 
world  the  organic  laws  of  human  society  and  to  reveal 
the  fundamental  moral  truths  of  the  ages  ? 

Much  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  was  above  the  compre- 
hension of  his  countrymen,  and  much  which  they  under- 
stood contradicted  teachings  which  they  had  held  sacred 
for  ages,  so  that  they  repeatedly  declared  that  he  was 
possessed  of  a  devil  and  mad.  Edersheim  says  that 
"Jesus  fundamentally  separated  himself  from  all  the 
ideas  of  his  time."  *  There  was  absolute  contrariety  be- 
tween his  teachings  and  rabbinism,  which  was  regarded 
by  the  people  with  profound  reverence. 

We  should  remember  that  it  is  difficult  to  convince 


»  The  Home  Missionary,  Oct.  1884,  p.  227. 

a  Dr.  Washington  Gladden's  Applied  Christianity,  p.  232. 

3  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  I.  p.  164. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  95 

men  of  anything  which  they  do  not  wish  to  believe. 
They  demand  evidence,  and  what  would  afford  proof  to 
an  unbiassed  mind  is  often  quite  insufficient  to  convince 
men  against  their  will;  while  that  which  harmonizes 
with  preconceived  opinion  is  often  accepted  with  little 
or  no  evidence.  Hence  it  is  that  myths  and  legends 
which  are  believed  gain  credence  because  they  flatter 
national  pride,  like  the  story  of  William  Tell,  or  embody 
national  ideals,  or  are  for  some  other  reason  pleasant 
to  believe.  Distasteful  legends  do  not  gain  currency  as 
true.  And  the  narrower  men  are  the  more  difficult  is  it 
to  convince  them  of  anything  which  runs  counter  to 
their  prejudices. 

Now  the  Jews  are  characterized  by  a  peculiar  tenac- 
ity. In  contact  with  all  the  races  of  the  world,  they 
still  cling  to  their  traditional  beliefs.  Carlyle  remarks 
on  their  tenacity  and  obstinacy  as  "clinging  to  the 
same  belief,  probable  or  improbable,  or  even  impossi- 
ble." '  Such  was  the  race,  steeped  in  their  religious 
convictions,  among  whom  we  are  asked  to  believe  that 
legends  sprung  up  which  taught  original  conceptions  of 
religious  truth  in  absolute  conflict  with  the  most  sacred 
beliefs  of  the  nation. 

If  it  be  said  that  these  legends  originated,  not  among 
Jews  who  still  adhered  to  Judaism,  but  among  early 
Christians  who  had  been  profoundly  impressed  by  Jesus, 
then  we  are  to  understand  that  his  character  and  life, 
before  they  had  been  glorified  by  legend  and  when 
therefore,  according  to  this  theory,  they  were  simply 
human  and  imperfect  and  of  course  destitute  of  all 
miraculous  power, — that  then  this  character  and  life  so 
tiMiisformed,  enlarged,  and  perfected  ritualistic  and 
bigoted  Jews  that  they  were  able  to  supplement  this 
character  and  round  it  out  to  full-orbed  perfection  ! 
But  how  would  it  be  possible  for  Jesus  to  inspire  in  men 
conceptions  of  truth  larger,  loftier,  and  more  beautiful 
than  he  had  ever  himself  conceived  or  exemplified  ? 

1  Hist,  of  Literature,  p.  47. 


9G  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Here  is  this  character  in  the  Gospels — an  effect  for 
which,  if  we  propose  to  account  for  it,  we  must  find  an 
adequate  cause.  Were  effects  produced  by  the  lesser 
and  imperfect  Jesus  (assumed  by  this  theory)  sufficient 
as  causes  to  produce  the  larger,  perfected  Christ  which 
we  find  in  the  Gospels  ?  To  ask  such  a  question  is  to 
answer  it. 

Moreover,  even  if  we  suppose  the  loftiest  of  the  utter- 
ances and  traits  ascribed  to  Jesus  in  the  Gospels  were  of 
legendary  or  mythical  origin,  we  must  still  account  for 
the  unity  of  the  character  before  us.  It  is  perfectly 
rounded  and  balanced,  and  absolutely  self -consistent. 
It  strikes  no  one  as  patchwork.  Diverse  characteristics 
meet  in  Christ  without  discord  and  together  constitute 
a  complete  and  symmetrical  whole.  Because  men  differ 
their  ideals  differ.  If  then  the  incidents  and  sayings  of 
the  Gospel  were  the  ideals  of  the  people,  crystallized  in 
legends,  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  fact  that  when 
collected  they  constitute  a  harmonious  and  glorious 
whole  ?  As  well  might  we  expect  each  one  of  a  multi 
tude  to  bring  a  sentence  and  then  by  gathering  them  to- 
gether produce  the  noblest  and  most  perfect  poem  of  all 
literature. 

But  these  are  not  the  only  objections  to  this  theory. 
Time  is  necessary  for  the  production  of  myths.  They 
are  the  outgrowth  of  generations.  In  the  first  edition 
of  his  "Life  of  Jesus,"  Strauss  maintained  that  his 
myths  were  formed  in  the  post-apostolic  age;  but  dur- 
ing the  twenty -nine  years  intervening  between  that 
edition  and  the  last,  the  critics  of  the  Tubingen  school 
conceded  that  the  first  three  Gospels  belong  to  the  apos- 
tolic age.  Accordingly  in  his  last  edition  Strauss  said : 
"In  this  new  work  I  have,  chiefly  in  consequence  of 
Baur's  investigations,  used  the  supposition  of  conscious 
and  intentional  invention  far  more  freely  than  before.' 
Hostile  critics  now  assign  Matthew  and  Mark  to  a  place 
somewhere  between  A.D.  80  and  90,  and  sober-minded 
critics  place  Mark  still  earlier.  That  is,  it  is  now  con- 
ceded that  these  two  Gospels,  at  least,  were  written 


TUB  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  97 

during  the  lifetime  of  many  who  had  seen  and  heard 
Jesus. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Even  the  most  hostile  critics  con- 
cede the  genuineness  of  Paul's  letters  to  the  Romans, 
the  Corinthians,  and  the  Galatians;  and  these  were 
written  during  the  years  57  and  58,  that  is,  within 
twenty-five  years  of  the  death  of  Christ.  These  letters 
refer  incidentally,  and  hence  the  more  convincingly,  to 
several  of  the  most  prominent  facts  in  the  life  of  Jesus ; 
they  show  that  at  that  early  date  the  Lord's  Supper  had 
been  instituted  and  churches  organized;  that  men  be- 
lieved in  Christ's  resurrection  and  supernatural  power, 
his  sinlessness  and  pre-existence,  that  they  were  bap- 
tized in  his  name,  trusted  in  him  as  the  Saviour  of  men, 
and  expected  him  to  judge  the  earth.  Throughout 
these  epistles  we  find  precisely  such  a  character  as- 
sumed as  that  depicted  in  the  four  Gospels.1  This  does 


1  Christ  is  said  to  have  been  "  of  the  seed  of  David  "  (Rom.  i.  3),  and  the 
"Son  of  God  "  (Rom  i.  4);  to  have  died  for  sinners  (Rom.  v.  6,  8;  1  Cor.  xv. 
3);  to  have  been  crucified  (stated  in  all  four  epistles,  Rom.  vi.  6;  1  Cor.  i.  17, 
18,  23;  2  Cor.  xiii.  4;  Gala.  ii.  20);  to  have  risen  from  the  dead  (Rom.  i.  4,  iv. 
24,  25,  vi.  4  9,  viii  11,  34,  xiv.  9;  1  Cor.  xv.  4,  13,  16,  20;  2  Cor.  iv.  14);  to  have 
been  seen  after  his  resurrection  "  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once; 
of  whom  the  greater  part  remain  until  this  present  "  (1  Cor.  xv.  6),  also  by 
Paul  himself  (1  Cor.  xv.  8). 

Christ  is  spoken  of  as  meek  and  gentle  (2  Cor.  x.  1);  not  pleasing  himself 
(Rom.  xv.  3),  yet  exalted  "  over  all  "  (Rom.  ix.  5);  as  pre-existent  (1  Cor.  x. 
4,  9;  2  Cor.  viii.  9);  as  sinless  (2 Cor.  v.  21);  as  possessing  supernatural  power, 
"  by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by  him  "  (1  Cor.  viii.  6).  In  all  four  of 
these  epistles  his  name  is  coupled  with  that  of  God  the  Father  in  a  benedic- 
tion (Rom.  i.  7: 1  Cor.  i.  3;  2  Cor.  xiii.  14;  Gala.  i.  3).  He  was  worshipped, 
"  all  that  in  every  place  call  on  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  "  (1  Cor. 
i.  2»;  was  believed  to  be  the  final  Judge  of  all  men  (2  Cor.  v.  10;  Rom.  ii.  16). 
His  "  gospel  "  is  repeatedly  mentioned  (Rom.  i.  16,  xv.  19,  20,  29;  1  Cor.  ix.  12, 
14,  16, 18;  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  x.  14;  Gala.  i.  6,  7,  8,  9);  already  recognized  as  "the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  "  (Rom.  i.  16).  Christ  is  represented  as  our  "  re- 
deemer" (Rom.  iii.  24;  Gala.  iii.  13i;  our  "propitiation"  (Rom.  iii.  25);  our 
"justification  "  (Rom.  iv.  25,  v.  9;  Gala.  ii.  16, 17);  the  only  foundation  (1  Cor. 
ill.  11).  A  wonderful  love  existed  between  Christ  and  bis  followers,  from 
which  nothing  could  separate  (Rom.  viii.  35-39).  His  followers  were  "bap- 
tized into  "  him  (Rom.  vi.  8). 

Paul  speaks  of  "the  twelve  "  (1  Cor.  xv.  5);  refers  to  the  Lord's  Supper  (1 
Cor.  x.  16, 17,  21,  xi.  23-29);  and  shows  that  many  churches  had  already  been 


98  1HE  NEW  BRA. 

not  allow  time  for  the  development  of  myths,  and  there- 
fore undermines  the  theory  of  unconscious  additions  to 
the  truth  and  compels  those  who  do  not  accept  the  gen- 
uineness of  the  life  and  character  of  Christ  presented 
in  the  Gospels  to  resort  to  the  theory  of  invention  with 
the  intention  to  deceive.  Supposing  then  a  sufficient 
motive  (which  really  involves  absurdities),  we  shall  find 
that  the  task  proposed  was  an  impossible  one . 

II.  The  theory  of  invention  is  simplified  by  supposing 
that  the  character  before  us  is  the  product  of  one  man's 
skill  rather  than  the  result  of  collusion  on  the  part  of 
several.  If,  as  we  have  seen,  the  people  were  not  capa- 
ble of  forming  such  high  ideals,  let  us  suppose  that  the 
most  gifted  man  in  the  nation  undertook  the  invention 
of  the  most  exalted  and  wonderful  part  of  the  character 
and  life  of  Jesus. 

When  a  man  intends  to  deceive,  his  fabrication  will 
be  fashioned  with  reference  to  those  for  whom  it  is  in- 
tended. It  must  be  made  credible  in  order  to  success. 
He  is  not  only  limited  by  his  own  inventive  powers  and 
the  resources  at  hand,  but  also  by  the  intelligence,  the 
prejudices,  the  credulity  of  those  for  whom  he  fabri- 
cates. We  must  remember  that  the  supposed  inventor 
was  producing  a  character,  not  for  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, but  for  the  first ;  not  for  Anglo-Saxons  or  Germans 
or  Frenchmen,  but  for  Jews. 

Why,  then,  should  this  inventor  have  done  violence  to 
the  Jewish  conception  of  the  Messiah  ?  Why  represent 
their  national  Messiah  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  re- 
ceiving Jews,  Greeks,  and  Romans  on  equal  terms? 
Why  represent  him  as  persistently  claiming  to  be  a 
king,1  and  yet  absolutely  refusing  to  be  crowned2  or  to 
employ  the  weapons  and  methods  of  kings  ?  Such  an 
invention  could  never  have  originated  in  the  brain  of  a 

organized  (Rom.  xvi.  4.  16;  1  Cor.  vii.  17,  xi.  16,  xiv.  33,  xvi.  1,  19;  2  Cor. 
viii  1,  19,  23,  xi.  8,  28,  xii.  13;  Gala.  i.  22). 

How  is  all  this  within  twenty- five  years  of  the  death  of  Christ  to  be  ac 
counted  for  on  the  mythical  theory  ? 

1  Matt.  xxi.  5,  xxv.  34;  John  xviii.  30,  37.  "  John  vi.  15. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  99 

Jew  who  all  his  life  had  been  taught  that  the  Messiah 
was  to  establish  a  temporal  kingdom  and  was  to  "break 
the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron  and  dash  them  in  pieces 
like  a  potter's  vessel."  '  Nor  could  a  Jew  have  believed 
that  such  an  invention  would  be  accepted  by  his  coun- 
trymen. To  them  the  claims  and  conduct  of  Jesus  were 
contradictory.  We  see  that  his  course  was  consistent, 
but  this  inventor  was  not  fabricating  for  us. 

Why  scandalize  the  Jews  by  representing  their  Mes- 
siah as  associating  with  publicans  and  sinners  ?  A  pub- 
lican was  deemed  even  more  contemptible  than  a  Gen- 
tile. What  inventor  of  the  life  and  character  of  a 
reformer  or  saviour  of  society  would  ever  think  of 
representing  him  as  inviting  into  his  organization,  and 
at  the  very  outset,  extortioners  and  harlots  ?  Surely  it 
would  occur  to  no  such  inventor  to  begin  the  reforma- 
tion of  society  by  means  of  its  outcasts. 

Why  shock  the  Jews  by  representing  their  Messiah  to 
them  as  a  Sabbath-breaker  ?  Why  bring  him  into  open 
conflict  with  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  ?  We  so  de- 
spise Pharisaism  and  rabbinism  that  it  is  difficult  for 
us  to  appreciate  the  veneration  in  which  these  men 
were  held  by  the  nation.  "Each  scribe  outweighed  all 
the  common  people."  2  He  was  worthy  of  all  honor. 
He  was  honored  by  God  himself,  and  his  praises  pro- 
claimed by  the  angels.  He  would  hold  the  same  rank 
in  heaven  as  on  earth.  Such  was  the  respect  paid  to 
his  sayings  that  ' '  they  were  to  be  absolutely  believed, 
even  if  they  were  to  declare  that  to  be  at  the  right  hand 
which  was  at  the  left,  or  vice  versa.'"  3  The  legal  deter- 
minations of  the  scribes  were  even  more  binding  than 
Scripture  itself.  Christ  repeatedly  'called  these  men 
"  hypocrites  "  and  "vipers."  Would  a  Jew  ever  think 
of  making  the  national  Messiah  apply  such  epithets  to 
these  almost  sacred  representatives  of  the  national 
wisdom  ?  There  was  a  popular  saying  that  if  only  two 
men  entered  heaven,  the  one  would  be  a  scribe  and  the 

>  Ps.  ii.  9.       »  Edersbeim's  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus,  Vol.  I.  p.  94.       «  Ibid. 


100  THE  NEW  ERA. 

other  a  Pharisee.  Would  a  Jew  ever  think  of  putting 
into  the  mouth  of  the  Messiah  such  words  as  these  : 
"  Except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  '  ? 

The  profound  reverence  of  the  Jews  for  authority  is 
illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  great  Hillel  was  wont  to 
mispronounce  a  word  because  his  teacher  before  him 
had  done  so.2  Would  any  one  think  of  making  their 
Messiah,  who  was  to  be  the  crown  and  completion  of  all 
their  past,  repeatedly  begin  his  teachings  thus:  "Ye 
have  heard  that  it  was  said  by  them  of  old  time"  3  thus 
and  thus,  "But  I  say  unto  you  "  differently  ? 

The  central  truth,  made  manifest  both  by  Christ's 
words  and  deeds,  is  that  of  the  cross — self-giving  for 
others.  And  this  is  made  the  condition  of  discipleship 
for  Jew  and  Gentile,  Pharisee  and  publican,  all  alike.4 
It  is  inconceivable  that  the  supposed  inventor  would  or 
could  have  formed  any  such  conception.  Among  al] 
peoples  and  in  all  ages  human  nature  has  paid  tribute 
to  the  nobility  of  self -sacrifice.  Examples  of  self- 
devotion  for  others,  even  unto  death,  are  not  want- 
ing among  heathen  peoples,  but  they  are  looked  on 
as  almost  or  quite  divine.  Their  lustre  shines  down 
from  a  height,  deemed  unattainable  by  ordinary  men. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  any  one  inventing  a  character 
and  life  as  an  example  to  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  men  would  make  self-abnegation  for  others  the 
law  of  common  life.  No  one  before  Christ  ever  con- 
ceived of  common  humanity  as  capable  of  such  exalted 
heroism;  no  one  ever  supposed  that  the  weak  and 
the  vile,  the  degraded  and  the  brutish,  could  ever 
reach  such  moral  sublimity.  And  surely  no  impostor 
would  ever  dream  of  making  such  a  transformation  the 
condition  of  discipleship.  It  could  never  have  occurred 
to  human  wisdom  in  planning  a  religion  as  broad  as 


1  Matt.  v.  20.  2  Edersheim,  Vol.  I.  p. : 

8  Matt,  v.*—  4  Ibid.  xvi.  24,  25, 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER  101 

the  world  to  make  the  gate  of  entrance  so  exceeding 
strait.  Being  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews  would  avail 
nothing.  They  of  the  circumcision  must  pass  through 
the  same  experience  as  the  despised  Gentiles.  Could  a 
Jew  imagine  Israel's  Messiah  teaching  such  a  doctrine  ? 

The  Jews  of  that  generation  rejected  the  conception 
of  the  Messiah  which  is  found  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  their  descendants  for  nineteen  hundred  years  have 
continued  to  reject  it.  Surely  any  one  having  such  a 
profound  knowledge  of  human  nature  with  such  con- 
summate wisdom  and  insight  as  to  be  able  to  invent 
this  character  would  have  had  sufficient  knowledge  of 
his  own  countrymen  to  foresee  that  rejection.  Are  we 
to  infer,  then,  that  he  did  foresee  it  and  intend  it ;  that 
he  planned  to  make  Christianity  a  world -religion ;  that 
he  expected  the  cross,  which  was  a  stumbling-block  to 
the  Jew  and  foolishness  to  the  Greek,  would  prove  to  be 
God's  power  for  conquering  the  world  ?  This  is  to 
ascribe  a  superhuman  wisdom  to  the  inventor  which 
the  theory  denies  to  Christ. 

But  we  must  examine  more  closely  the  exact  nature 
of  the  task  which  this  supposed  inventor  undertook. 
According  to  the  synoptic  Gospels  (I  will  not  appeal  to 
the  fourth  Gospel  in  this  connection)  Jesus  makes  some 
astonishing  claims,  viz. : 

That  he  possesses  superhuman  power;  that  indeed  all 
power  is  his.1 

That  he  had  power  to  forgive  sins." 

That  he  is  king  of  a  heavenly  kingdom.8 

That  he  is  worthy  of  the  supreme  love  of  the  race, 
demanding  a  love  stronger  than  the  love  of  father, 
mother,  wife,  or  child.4 

That  he  will  finally  judge  all  nations.5 

Certainly  only  a  superhuman  character  could  sustain 
such  claims ;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  most  enlight- 
ened peoples  have,  for  nineteen  centuries,  considered 


1  Matt,  xxviil.  18.  »  Mark  U.  10.  »  Matt.  xxv.  34. 

«  Matt.  x.  37.  •  Matt.  xxv.  31-46. 


102  THE  NEW  ERA. 

these  claims  sustained,  and  have  accepted  this  char- 
acter as  divine  and  at  the  same  time  human.  The 
problem,  then,  was,  first,  to  invent  such  a  character 
— one  that  would  be  accepted  as  God's  idea  of  man  and 
man's  idea  of  God;  and,  secondly,  to  invent  a  life 
worthy  of  such  a  character — words  and  acts  befitting 
God,  yet  human  ;  words  and  acts  befitting  man,  yet 
divine. 

1.  The  invention  of  a  divine  human  character.  Christ 
gave  to  the  world  a  new  conception  of  God.  He  not 
only  made  much  more  real  the  divine  love  and  father- 
hood which  the  prophets  had  taught,  but  he  revealed  a 
monotheism  of  which  the  Jews  seem  never  to  have 
conceived.  They  were  monotheists,  but  only  in  the 
sense  that  they  believed  Jehovah  to  be  the  one  living 
and  true  God.  They  did  not  deem  him  the  God  of  the 
Gentiles.  He  could  become  their  God  only  as  they  be- 
came Jews.  Where  did  this  Jew,  going  about  to  invent 
a  god,  get  this  vastly  higher  conception  of  Deity  ? 

As  nations  grow  morally  and  spiritually  their  concep- 
tions of  Deity  change.  The  Zeus  of  Socrates  was  very 
different  from  the  Zeus  of  Homer.  The  God  wor- 
shipped in  the  middle  ages  was  very  different  from  the 
God  worshipped  to-day.  We  find  now  that  our  prog- 
ress toward  a  nobler  apprehension  of  Deity  has  been 
due  to  removing  the  misconceptions  with  which  the 
God  revealed  in  Christ  has  been  overlaid.  We  find 
that  our  enlarging  conceptions  are  simply  fuller  and 
clearer  apprehensions  of  the  revelation  made  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago.  Are  we  to  believe  that  this  revela- 
tion was  an  invention  made  by  a  man  nineteen  hundred 
years  in  advance  of  his  age  ? 

Again,  Christ  is  accepted  as  a  perfect  man.  The  more 
one  knows  of  great  and  good  men  the  more  is  he  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  the  greatest  and  best  have 
their  weaknesses  and  limitations.  And  the  more  virile 
a  man  is  the  more  positive  are  his  defects ;  the  stronger 
he  is  the  greater  his  weaknesses.  The  human  Colossus 
is  never  symmetrical.  Every  man  is  a  fraction  of  a 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  103 

man,  and  the  larger  the  scale  on  which  he  is  built  the 
more  obvious  are  his  lacks.  Behold  now  a  marvel ! 
Here  is  a  being  whose  diameter  no  one  has  yet  meas- 
ured. The  greater  a  man  is  the  more  clearly  does  he 
perceive  his  own  littleness  beside  this  character.  And 
yet,  notwithstanding  the  vastness  of  Christ's  nature,  no 
defect  appears.  His  character  is  so  nicely  balanced,  so 
completely  rounded,  that  by  common  consent  he  is 
deemed  the  one  perfect  example  of  the  race. 

And  his  character  is  not  simply  that  of  a  perfect 
individual,  it  is  generic;  uniting  the  virtues  not  only  of 
his  own  race,  but  of  all  other  races;  exemplifying  the 
moral  excellences  not  only  of  his  own  generation,  but  of 
all  subsequent  generations.  How  was  it  possible  for  the 
supposed  inventor  to  combine  in  one  fair  flower  the 
beauties  of  the  whole  moral  flora  ? 

Our  conception  of  human  nature  is  now  far  broader 
and  more  adequate  than  was  possible  to  any  one  in  the 
first  century.  For  eighteen  hundred  years  the  civilized 
world  has  had  before  its  eyes  a  generic  character,  a 
complete  man.  All  men  seem  to  most  of  the  world 
foreigners,  but  Christ  seems  a  foreigner  to  no  one.  In 
him  every  race  sees  its  noblest  traits  idealized  and  its 
deficiencies  supplemented.  We  see  in  him  the  common 
bond  which  makes  possible  a  brotherhood  of  mankind. 
We  have  learned  to  talk  of  the  "  solidarity  of  the  race  " 
and  of  a  "  world-consciousness."  Race  antipathy  is 
now  comparatively  slight.  Men  of  one  blood  can  sym- 
pathize sufficiently  with  those  of  another  to  understand 
and  appreciate  them.  Travel  and  reading  have  famil- 
iarized us  with  all  peoples.  We  can  now  make  a  com- 
parative study  of  character.  We  know  national  types. 
We  can  discriminate  between  that  which  is  common  to 
human  nature  everywhere  and  always  and  that  which 
is  merely  racial,  national,  or  individual.  To  sketch  a 
cosmopolitan  character  is  now  easy  to  the  literary 
artist ;  indeed,  he  has  only  to  copy  from  life,  for  such 
characters  are  not  uncommon  in  this  generation. 

We  need  to  remind  ourselves  how  entirely  different 


104  THE  NEW  ERA. 

was  the  situation  in  the  first  century.  No  such  condi- 
tions for  the  study  and  knowledge  of  mankind  existed. 
There  was  then  comparatively  little  intercommunica- 
tion. The  attrition  of  travel  had  not  to  any  appreciable 
extent  worn  off  race  characteristics.  The  Jew  was  in- 
tensely Jewish,  the  Greek  intensely  Grecian.  True, 
Roman  conquest  had  brought  the  world  under  Roman 
rule,  but  conquered  peoples  were  not  assimilated.  The 
Jew  was  no  less  a  Jew  because  forced  to  wear  the 
Roman  yoke.  His  hatred  of  the  conqueror  rather  in- 
tensified his  narrowness.  That  narrowness  had  not 
only  been  inculcated  as  a  part  of  his  religious  training, 
but  it  had  run  in  the  blood  of  threescore  generations. 
It  was  simply  impossible  for  such  a  race  in  such  an  age 
to  invent  a  world-character  as  broad  as  mankind  and 
as  comprehensive  as  the  ages.  A  Jew  attempting  to 
picture  an  ideal  man  would  have  drawn  simply  a 
typical  Israelite. 

It  may  be  suggested  that  a  Jew  might  have  found  in 
the  Messianic  prophecies  materials  for  a  true  concep- 
tion of  the  character  of  Christ.  Certainly,  some  aspects 
of  his  character  are  there  presented,  but  only  a  few. 
These  prophecies  describe  very  minutely  many  of  the 
circumstances  of  his  birth  and  death,  but  do  not 
set  before  us  the  many  and  varied  elements  of  his 
character. 

No  mind  was  broad  enough  or  had  sufficiently  wide 
knowledge,  in  that  age,  to  conceive  of  a  generic  man. 
And  even  if  all  the  elements  of  perfect  manhood  could 
have  been  found  scattered  among  the  nations,  no 
human  skill  could  have  united  them  into  the  living 
character  before  us.  The  chemist  may  tell  us  what  are 
the  several  elements  of  the  human  body  and  in  what 
proportions  they  enter  into  it,  but  he  cannot  combine 
these  same  elements  in  these  exact  proportions  so  as  to 
produce  a  living  result. 

Some  of  the  excellences  of  which  human  nature  is 
capable  rarely,  if  ever,  coexist  in  the  same  character. 
Like  gentleness  and  zeal  they  belong  to  opposite  tern- 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER  105 

peraments,  and  had  they  not  once  been  united  in  the 
character  of  Christ,  would  seem  incongruous. 

Seldom  in  nature,  art,  or  character  do  we  find  great 
strength  and  rare  beauty  combined.  An  exceptional 
degree  of  the  one  is  usually  achieved  only  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  other.  What  artist  would  attempt  to 
combine  in  a  single  face  and  form  womanly  grace  and 
manly  strength,  the  flowing  lines  of  the  female  form 
and  the  muscular  development  of  the  athlete?  Yet 
Christ  is  stronger  than  the  strongest  character,  of  his- 
tory OF  fiction,  in  which  beauty  is  wholly  sacrificed  to 
strength,  and  more  beautiful  than  any  character  in 
which  strength  is  wholly  sacrificed  to  beauty. 

Even  if  the  supposed  inventor  could  have  found 
ready  at  his  hand  all  the  materials  which  enter  into  the 
character  of  Christ,  it  is  incredible  that  he  could  have 
united  these  heterogeneous  excellences  of  various  tem- 
peraments so  as  to  produce  a  homogeneous  whole;  in- 
credible that  he  could  have  blended  the  many  colors  of 
diverse  and  beautiful  types  of  character  into  the  white 
light  of  Christ's  radiant  perfection. 

2.  But  supposing  he  could  have  produced  in  his  own 
mind  the  picture  which  we  find  in  the  Gospels,  or  sup- 
posing he  might  have  found  all  of  its  elements  in  the 
Messianic  prophecies,  perhaps  the  most  difficult  part  of 
his  task  would  yet  remain,  viz.,  the  inventing  of  a  life 
which  would  accurately  •  and  adequately  express  his 
perfect  conception. 

That  conception  once  formed,  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter  to  describe  it.  But  the  Gospels  nowhere  de- 
scribe Christ's  character.  They  nowhere  tell  us  that  he 
was  dignified  under  insult,  calm  before  opposition,  sub- 
missive under  suffering,  indignant  at  the  sight  of  hy- 
pocrisy, sympathetic  with  sorrow.  These  characteristics 
are  manifested  by  him,  but  never  affirmed  of  him.  They 
appear  only  in  his  words  and  acts.  The  writers  of  the 
first  three  Gospels  make  no  attempt  at  delineation; 
they  are  apparently  quite  unconscious  that  they  are 
giving  to  the  world  a  portrait ;  they  make  Christ  speak 


106  THE  NEW  ERA. 

and  act  before  us,  and  we  form  our  judgment  of  his 
character  independently,  as  if  we  had  seen  and  heard 
him  ourselves.  Whatever  feelings  may  spring  from 
reading  the  Gospels,  they  are  never  the  result  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  writers.  One  could  not  be  sure,  judging 
simply  from  their  style,  that  the  synoptic  evangelists 
were  not  indifferent  spectators  of  what  they  recorded. 
There  is  no  writing  for  effect,  no  exhibition  of  their  own 
opinions,  but  an  unadorned  narrative  which  simply  re- 
'  counts  the  words  and  works  of  Christ.  From  these  we 
get  a  distinct  conception  of  this  divine-human  character. 

In  order  better  to  appreciate  the  task  which  the  sup- 
posed inventor  undertook,  let  the  reader  propose  it  to 
himself.  You  must  originate  sayings  fit  for  infinite 
wisdom  to  utter,  conceptions  of  truth,  wholly  new  and 
priceless,  which  for  ages  to  come  men  will  study  and 
ponder  more  than  all  other  human  words.  Moreover 
you  must  give  to  the  world  not  simply  truth  uttered, 
but  truth  applied  to  life  and  in  action ;  not  simply  the 
laws  of  life  promulgated,  but  those  laws  exemplified. 
You  must  invent  a  life  fit  for  God  to  live  in  the  flesh, 
one  in  keeping  with  the  astonishing  claims  already 
noticed,  and  yet  it  must  be  a  human  life,  lived  amid 
human  relationships  and  imitable. 

Your  simple  record  of  his  words  and  acts  must  present 
a  character  possessed  of  the  most  diverse  excellences, 
each  in  perfection,  yet  all  in  harmony ;  a  character  at 
the  same  time  tolerant  and  zealous,  meek  and  majestic, 
charitable  and  rigorous,  lowly  and  commanding,  mild 
and  strict,  just  and  merciful,  bold  and  cautious,  artless 
and  profound,  gentle  as  the  dawn  yet,  like  the  morning 
light,  awaking  a  world  to  activity.  What  he  says  and 
does  must  show  him  capable  of  intense  feeling  and  yet 
of  entire  self-possession,  of  melting  tenderness  and  yet 
of  withering  rebuke ;  possessed  of  a  colorless  judgment 
and  yet  of  the  most  delicate  feeling,  of  massive  strength 
and  matchless  beauty.  These  diverse  qualities,  so  often 
mutually  exclusive,  must  unite  and  blend  so  as  to  form 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  107 

a  character  which,  like  the  garment  of  Jesus,  shall  be 
without  a  seam. 

He  must  show  no  sign  of  repentance,  must  never  con- 
fess the  slightest  fault  or  error,  must  indeed  claim  to  be 
without  sin,  yet  arouse  no  suspicion  of  Pharisaism. 

Let  him  associate  the  name  of  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  with  his  own  in  some  formula;  let  him  de- 
clare that  all  power  is  his;  let  him  assume  to  forgive 
sins,  and  instead  of  standing  before  the  bar  of  human 
judgment,  convicted  of  the  most  shocking  blasphemy, 
let  him  impress  men  with  his  absolute  holiness. 

You  must  not  be  content  to  represent  your  hero  as 
exemplifying  the  highest  moral  standard  of  the  times. 
He  must  do  vastly  more  than  that.  He  must  originate 
a  purer  system  of  ethics  than  the  world  has  yet  known, 
and  he  must  announce  spiritual  truths  which  are  many 
centuries  beyond  the  acceptance  or  even  the  compre- 
hension of  the  most  civilized  peoples  of  this  age.  He 
must  not  teach  as  other  men  do,  citing  authorities, 
elaborating  his  teachings  from  elementary  principles 
by  logical  inference,  showing  reasons  for  his  conclu- 
sions and  commands.  He  must  teach  as  one  having 
authority,  with  a  simple  "Jsay  unto  you,"  and  yet 
your  readers  must  never  suspect  that  he  is  domineer- 
ing over  their  understanding. 

He  must  boldly  declare  that  he  is  greater  than  Solo- 
mon, that  he  is  able  to  bring  all  men  into  subjection  to 
himself,  that  he  is  "  the  light  of  the  world,"  yet  lie  must 
not  seem  in  the  least  degree  conceited.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  must  appear  meek  and  lowly  and  even  be 
able  to  publish  his  own  meekness  without  sacrificing 
his  modesty. 

He  must  aspire  to  a  dominion  more  extended,  more 
absolute  than  the  most  insane  ambition  ever  dreamed 
of,  yet  he  must  never  be  suspected  of  ambition. 

You  must  invent  a  character  and  life  whose  influence 
shall  flow  through  the  ages  with  always  augmenting 
power,  and  whose  mystery  shall  ever  attract  and  for- 
ever baffle  human  study. 


108  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Your  art  must  be  so  consummate  as  wholly  to  conceal 
itself,  deceiving  even  the  literary  elect,  and  convincing 
the  world  that  your  work  is  not  an  invention,  but  a 
faithful  record  of  fact.  The  character  must  be  so  life- 
like as  to  inspire  the  faith  of  millions  and  become  the 
basis  of  the  most  widely  extended  and  vital  organiza- 
tion in  the  world's  history.  And  more  marvellous  than 
all,  this  invented  character  must  possess  a  strange,  un- 
precedented power  of  exciting  love — a  love  stronger 
than  the  love  of  life,  stronger  than  the  love  of  parent 
or  wife  or  child.  You  must  invent  such  a  character 
that  many  centuries  hence  millions  would  die  for  the 
love  they  bear  it. 

To  expose  the  utter  absurdity  of  this  theory  it  re- 
mains only  to  show  what  is  implied  by  power  to  invent 
such  a  character  and  life. 

The  story  of  Solomon's  judgment  between  the  two 
mothers  contending  for  the  living  child,  if  it  were  a 
fiction,  would  show  that  the  author  of  the  fiction  him- 
self would  have  been  capable  of  rendering  such  a  judg- 
ment had  he  been  the  arbiter. 

Any  story-writer  might  have  produced  the  plot  of 
Lalla  Rookh,  and  stated  that  young  Feramorz  was  a 
charming  poet  who  by  his  songs  won  the  fair  princess. 
But  in  order  to  sustain  the  plot  by  shotving  the  youth 
to  be  a  poet  instead  of  declaring  him  to  be  one,  in  order 
to  introduce  a  bard  whose  songs  may  impress  the 
reader  with  his  poetic  genius,  the  author  of  the  fiction 
must  himself  be  a  poet.  That  is,  if  the  character  pre- 
sented in  the  Gospels  were  a  fiction,  its  marvel  and 
mystery  would  be  transferred  to  the  character  of  its 
inventor.  Theodore  Parker  said :  "It  would  have 
taken  a  Jesus  to  forge  a  Jesus." 

The  discourses  of  Christ  contain  a  perfect  system  of 
ethics.  If,  then,  this  character  is  not  genuine,  its  in- 
ventor of  course  possessed  this  unequalled  moral  in- 
sight, and  produced  this  most  perfect  system  of  ethics 
the  world  has  ever  known  in  the  interest  of  the  most 
gigantic  fraud  the  world  has  ever  known  ! 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  109 

Christ  was  often  placed  in  circumstances  which, 
humanly  speaking,  were  most  difficult  and  perplexing, 
yet  in  applying  truth  to  life  he  discovered  a  power  of 
distinguishing  between  the  faintest  shades  of  right  and 
wrong,  wisdom  and  unwisdom,  which  was  absolutely 
perfect.  If  now  this  is  a  fictitious  character,  its  in- 
ventor possessed  a  wisdom  which  was  infallible,  and  a 
moral  sense  unimpaired  by  sin.  A  deliberate  falsifier 
with  an  unimpaired  moral  sense  ! 

It  is  not  the  intellect,  however  profound,  which  appre- 
hends spiritual  truth ;  such  truth  is  not  reasoned  out, 
neither  can  it  be  acquired  through  the  senses.  It  is  re- 
flected upon  the  pure  heart  from  the  great  source  of  all 
truth.  The  pure  in  heart  see  God.  The  profound  spirit- 
ual truths  uttered  by  Christ  could  have  been  reflected 
only  on  an  unsullied  soul.  If  we  refuse  to  accept  the 
genuineness  of  Christ's  character,  then  we  must  believe 
that  an  unscrupulous  liar  had  an  unsullied  soul ! 

Christ's  apprehension  of  God  was  so  sublime,  so 
spiritual,  that  it  has  satisfied  the  most  exalted  concep- 
tions, the  deepest  spiritual  longings  of  the  race  for  all 
these  ages.  Such  exceptional  knowledge  of  God  could 
come  only  through  exceptional  likeness  to  him.  Is  it 
any  more  difficult  to  accept  the  character  of  Christ  as 
historic  than  to  believe  that  of  all  men  the  most  cun- 
ning deceiver  of  the  race  was  likest  God  ?  Surely,  if 
the  character  of  Christ  were  invented,  then,  as  Rous- 
seau says,  "the  inventor  would  be  .a  more  astonishing 
character  than  the  hero " — more  astonishing  because 
self -contradictory.  We  have  seen  that  the  supposition 
of  such  invention  forces  us  into  repeated  absurdities. 

The  two  theories,  one  of  which  must  be  accepted  if 
the  genuineness  of  Christ's  character  is  rejected,  have 
both  been  found  untenable.  If  it  is  incredible  that  the 
lofty  spiritual  conceptions  in  the  Gospels  could  have 
been  the  unconscious  product  of  a  people  rigid  in  the 
spiritual  death  of  formalism,  it  is  inconceivable  that 
such  conceptions  could  have  originated  in  the  interest 
of  fraud.  The  conclusion  of  John  Stuart  Mill  touching 


110  THE  NEW  ERA. 

both  of  these  theories  is  as  just  as  it  is  unbiassed.  He 
says  ' :  "  And  whatever  else  may  be  taken  away  from 
us  by  rational  criticism,  Christ  is  still  left:  a  unique 
figure,  not  more  unlike  all  his  predecessors  than  all  his 
followers,  even  those  who  had  the  direct  benefit  of  his 
personal  teaching.  It  is  no  use  to  say  that  Christ  as 
exhibited  in  the  Gospels  is  not  historical,  and  that  we 
know  not  how  much  of  what  is  admirable  has  been 
superadded  by  the  traditions  of  his  followers.  .  .  . 
Who  among  his  disciples  or  among  their  proselytes 
was  capable  of  inventing  the  sayings  ascribed  to  Jesus 
or  of  imagining  the  life  and  character  revealed  in  the 
Gospels?" 

One  of  the  greatest  masters  of  all  literature  ought  to 
be  a  judge  whether  the  character  in  the  Gospels  is  a 
likeness  reflected  from  life  or  the  product  of  consum- 
mate art,  and  Goethe  says2:  "I  consider  the  Gospels 
decidedly  genuine,  for  they  are  penetrated  by  the  re- 
flection of  a  majesty  which  proceeded  from  the  person 
of  Christ ;  and  this  is  divine,  if  ever  divinity  appeared 
upon  the  earth." 

The  character  and  teachings  of  Jesus  are  effects  for 
which  no  adequate  cause  can  be  found  in  his  generation 
or  nation.  He  never  studied  in  a  rabbinical  school. 
It  is  safe  to  say  he  never  talked  with  a  Platonist  or  a 
Stoic  philosopher,  quite  safe  to  say  he  never  read  a 
Greek  or  Latin  book ;  he  very  likely  never  saw  a  book 
of  any  sort  except  a  few  copies  of  the  "  Law  and  Proph- 
ets." He  probably  never  saw  a  map  of  the  world  and, 
except  in  his  infancy,  never  travelled  outside  of  a  little 
country  smaller  than  some  of  our  counties.  He  spent 
his  life  among  the  narrowest  and  most  exclusive  of  all 
races;  and  yet  without  the  broadening  influences  of 
reading  or  travel  or  educated  companionship  he  pre- 
sents a  character,  a  spirit,  a  sympathy,  a  doctrine  as 
broad  as  mankind  and  as  profound  as  human  need. 


1  Essays  on  Religion,  p.  263. 

»  Gespraecbe  mit  Eckennann,  III.  page  371.    Quoted  by  Christlieb. 


THE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  Ill 

Other  men  are  the  product  of  their  nation  and  their 
times;  he  evidently  was  not.  We  can  account  for 
Socrates  and  Aristotle,  for  Shakespeare  and  Goethe,  for 
Cromwell  and  Lincoln,  but  I  find  myself  wholly  unable 
to  account  for  Jesus  on  any  natural  basis.  The  only 
way  to  account  for  him  is  to  accept  him  at  his  own 
estimate  of  himself.  If  Christ's  character  was  genuine, 
then  was  it  superhuman  and  supernatural.  To  imagine 
an  inventor  of  his  character  does  not  relieve  the  diffi- 
culty; it  simply  transfers  the  supernatural  element 
from  a  known  to  an  unknown  person,  besides  involving 
many  absurdities.  Nor  is  there  any  relief  in  granting 
the  genuineness  of  Christ's  character  and  supposing 
that  his  life  is  largely  an  invention.  It  is  from  the 
story  of  his  life  that  we  gain  a  large  part  of  our  knowl- 
edge of  his  character;  the  two  are  inseparably  inter- 
woven. Moreover,  Jesus  is  himself  the  greatest  miracle 
in  the  Gospels;  and  after  being  forced  by  reason  to 
accept  the  miracle  of  his  character  it  is  illogical  to  re- 
ject the  miracles  of  his  life. 

Beyond  a  peradventure  the  character  presented  in  the  . 
Gospels  is  a  verity.    Amid  the  world's  sin  a  perfect  life  s 
has  been  lived ;  unto  the  world's  doubt  an  authoritative   ( 
voice  has  spoken ;  upon  the  world's  darkness  a  heavenly   . 
light  has  shone. 

This  is  apparently  to  be  the  universally  accepted 
verdict.  Never  have  the  character  of  Christ  and  his 
every  utterance  been  so  microscopically  studied  as 
during  the  past  half-century,  and  never  before  was  his 
influence  so  wide,  so  pervasive,  so  profound  as  to-day. 
This  influence  is  vastly  broader  than  the  church.  Many 
who  misunderstand  and  even  hate  the  church  respect 
the  name  and  teachings  of  Christ.  Says  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen,1  the  founder  of  the  "  Brahmo  Somaj  of 
India  " :  "  Christ  exists  throughout  Christendom  like  an 
all-pervading  leaven,  mysteriously  and  imperceptibly 
leavening  the  bias  of  millions  of  men  and  women." 

1  Mozoomdar's  Oriental  Christ,  p.  89. 


112  THE  NEW  ERA. 

And  this  influence  already  pervades  a  large  part  of 
heathendom  as  well  as  Christendom.  Keshub  again 
says ' :  "  Christ,  not  the  British  Government,  rules  India. 
We  breathe,  think,  feel,  and  move  in  a  Christian  atmos- 
phere." Both  in  Christian  and  heathen  lands  Christ  is 
profoundly  influencing  many  lives  outside  jfche  Church. 
Mozoomdar,  a  disciple  of  Keshub,  and  perhaps  the 
greatest  living  Brahman,  bears  this  remarkable  testi- 
mony2: "In  the  midst  of  these  crumbling  systems  of 
Hindu  error  and  superstition,  in  the  midst  of  this  self- 
righteous  dogmatism  and  acrimonious  controversy,  in 
the  midst  of  these  cold,  spectral  shadows  of  transition, 
secularism,  and  agnostic  doubt,  to  me  Christ  has  been 
like  the  meat  and  drink  of  my  soul.  His  influences 
have  woven  round  me  for  the  last  twenty  years  or 
more,  and,  outside  the  fold  of  Christianity  as  I  am, 
have  formed  a  new  fold,  wherein  I  find  many  besides 
myself." 

Many  who  reject  all  systems  of  theology  believe  that 
Christ  spoke  of  spiritual  things  with  authority;  and 
many  are  beginning  to  see  that  his  teachings  are  equally 
applicable  to  things  temporal,  that  he  came  to  save 
society  as  well  as  the  individual,  that  his  words  contain 
the  solution  of  the  great  problems  of  our  times,  and  that 
to  disregard  them  is  bad  political  economy  and  poor 
statesmanship.  He  is  the  accepted  teacher  of  an  ever- 
increasing  number,  with  whom  his  words  are  authorita- 
tive. And  even  those  who  are  in  doubt  whether  he  is 
divine  or  human  are,  many  of  them,  ready  to  follow 
him  as  their  leader. 

"If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  man, 
And  only  a  man,  I  say 
That  of  all  mankind  I  will  cleave  to  him, 
And  to  him  will  cleave  alway. 

"  If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  God, 
And  the  only  God,  I  swear 
I  will  follow  Him  through  heaven  and  hell, 
The  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  air  ! " 

RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER. 

i  Missionary  Review,  May,  1890,  p.  398.  »  The  Oriental  Christ,  p.  13. 


TEE  AUTHORITATIVE  TEACHER.  113 

Strauss  really  rendered  an  invaluable  service  to 
Christianity  by  his  attack  on  its  central  citadel.  It  re- 
sulted in  concentrating  study  on  Jesus,  which  has  pro- 
duced a  whole  library  of  Lives  of  Christ ;  it  has  turned 
religious  thought  from  other  teachers  to  the  Great 
Teacher;  it  has  led  to  a  fresh  study  of  the  Master's 
words,  which  has  thrown  new  light  on  every  page  of 
the  Gospel,  and,  as  Principal  Fairbairn  says,  has  made 
this  generation  better  acquainted  with  the  historical 
Christ  than  any  generation  between  him  and  us.  There 
has  been,  indeed,  a  new  resurrection  of  the  Christ ;  and 
while  we  of  this  generation  have  communed  and  rea- 
soned together  concerning  him,  verily  Jesus  himself 
has  drawn  near  and  is  opening  up  anew  to  us  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  do  not  our  hearts  burn  within  us  with  a  new 
fire  of  enthusiasm  to  bring  all  men  and  all  human  in- 
stitutions and  activities  under  his  saving  power  ? 

And  as  he  said  to  the  troubled  and  terrified  disciples 
when  he  appeared  to  them  at  Jerusalem,  so  now,  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  modern  society,  he  is  saying  to  our 
social  unrest,  to  the  conflict  of  classes,  to  the  fears  of 
many,  "  Peace  be  unto  you." 

This  nearer  and  clearer  vision  of  the  Christ,  this 
return  to  the  study  of  his  teachings,  this  discovery  that 
he  is  the  Saviour  of  man  as  well  as  of  men,  that  he  laid 
down  the  fundamental  laws  of  social  relations  on  which 
the  perfect  society  of  the  future  is  to  be  organized, — all 
this  is  the  timing  of  Providence  that  the  new  era  of  the 
near  future  may  indeed  be  the  fuller  coming  of  the 
Kingdom. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS. 

HUMAN  nature  has  a  God  ward  and  a  manward  side. 
As  a  person  man  sustains  relations  to  God ;  as  a  social 
being  he  sustains  relations  to  his  fellow -men. 

We  are  told  that  no  two  ultimate  particles  of  matter 
can  touch  each  other.  In  like  manner  every  human 
being  has  an  individuality  which  cannot  be  surren- 
dered, a  personality  which  cannot  be  lost  in  society  as 
a  drop  of  water  is  lost  in  the  sea.  There  are  experi- 
ences through  which  every  soul  must  pass  as  wholly 
alone  as  if  no  other  human  being  existed. 

As  the  poet  Keble  wrote : 

"  Not  even  the  tenderest  heart,  and  next  our  own, 
Knows  half  the  reasons  why  we  smile  or  sigh. 

"  Each  in  his  hidden  sphere  of  joy  or  woe 
Our  hermit  spirits  dwell,  and  range  apart."  * 

Moral  character  is  something  individual  and  involves 
personal  accountability.  No  man  can  live  out  of  rela- 
tions to  God ;  and  the  character  of  these  relations  indi- 
cates the  character  of  the  man. 

But  if  two  ultimate  particles  of  matter  cannot  touch 
each  other,  neither  can  they  exist  out  of  relations  with 
each  other.  It  is  equally  true  that  men  cannot  live  out 
of  relations  with  their  fellow-men;  and  the  character 
of  these  relations  determines  the  character  of  society. 
Humanity  being  what  it  is,  every  man  must  "bear  his 
own  burden,"  and  we  must  also  "bear  one  another's 
burdens." 

i  The  Christian  Year.    Twenty-fourth  Sunday  after  Trinity. 

114 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  115 

These  two  facts  of  human  nature  are  fundamental, 
and  found  recognition  in  the  beginning  when  God  said 
to  the  first  man,  "Where  art  thou?"and  to  the  first 
brother,  "Where  is  thy  brother?"  These  facts  being 
fundamental,  it  has  been  no  accident  that  the  progress 
of  civilization  from  the  beginning  has  been  along  the 
two  lines  already  pointed  out,  viz.,  the  development  of 
the  individual  and  the  organization  of  society.  And 
the  world's  progress  in  the  future  must  necessarily  be 
along  these  same  lines. 

But  although  these  two  sides  of  human  nature  are 
fundamental  and  quite  obvious,  there  has  been  a  con- 
stant tendency  to  overlook  the  rights  and  duties  which 
belong  to  the  one  or  the  other — a  tendency  to  sacrifice 
the  development  of  the  individual  to  the  organization 
of  society,  or  to  subordinate  the  organization  of  society 
to  individualism.  We  have  seen  that  the  more  or  less 
complete  triumph  of  the  one  over  the  other  marks  the 
fundamental  difference  between  European  and  Asiatic 
civilizations.  We  have  seen  also  that  these  two  princi- 
ples are  not  conflicting,  but  co-ordinate,  and  that  they 
are  alike  necessary  to  the  perfecting  of  the  race. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven,  which  cannot  fully  come  on 
earth  until  mankind  is  perfected,  must  exhibit  the 
complete  development  and  the  perfect  co-ordination  of 
these  two  principles.  The  Great  Teacher,  if  indeed 
"the  Light  of  the  world,"  must  show  how  this  could 
be  accomplished.  As  founder  of  the  kingdom  and  its 
King,  he  should  lay  down  laws  which  recognize  man's 
individuality  and  allow  scope  for  its  full  development 
and  which  at  the  same  time  recognize  the  necessity  of 
society  and  provide  for  its  perfect  organization.  And 
this  is  precisely  what  Christ  did. 

There  could  be  no  organization  of  society  without  law, 
and  there  could  be  no  moral  character  without  free- 
dom. How  could  the  individual  be  free  and  yet  under 
law?  This  great  problem  of  the  ages,  with  which 
heathen  philosophers  and  all  heathen  civilizations  have 
struggled  in  vain,  Christ  solved  with  one  word. 


116  THE  NEW  ERA. 

He  did  not  attempt,  like  the  founders  of  ethnic  re- 
Jigions,  to  control  the  life  of  the  individual  or  of  society 
by  means  of  rules.  Lazy  human  nature  would  like  a 
pope  to  be  conscience  and  judgment  for  it.  All  heathen 
religions  and  corrupted  forms  of  Christianity  respond 
to  this  desire  with  a  multiplicity  of  rules  by  which  they 
aim  to  shape  life  from  without.  But  no  system  of  rules 
could  meet  the  necessities  of  different  nations  and  ages, 
of  changing  social  conditions  and  of  new  relations. 
And  even  were  it  possible  to  fashion  rules  of  universal 
application,  they  would  make  children  of  all  who  lived 
by  them. 

Christ  inculcated  principles.  And  as  his  kingdom  is 
to  be  universal  and  eternal,,  the  great  principle  on 
which  he  founded  it  is  as  broad  as  the  moral  universe 
and  as  eternal  as  God.  That  principle  is  LOVE. 

Love  is  to  the  moral  universe  what  gravitation  is  to 
the  physical.  The  attraction  of  matter  to  matter  is 
gravitation;  the  attraction  of  soul  to  soul  is  love.  The 
heavenly  bodies  are  individuals  arranged,  so  to  speak, 
in  families,  communities,  states,  and  nations — systems 
within  systems — having  many  centres,  yet  all,  so  far  as 
we  can  judge,  circling  around  one  common  and  ulti- 
mate centre.  These  complex  relations  and  intricate 
movements  are  all  perfectly  harmonious,  because  gravi- 
tation binds  each  body  to  every  other  and  brings  all 
under  the  control  of  the  central  sun.  Now  love  is  the 
attracting  power  and  harmonizing  principle  of  the 
moral  universe  which  makes  possible  a  unity  in  the 
midst  of  endless  diversity.  This  principle  Christ  ap- 
plied to  man  in  his  twofold  relations  by  means  of  the 
two  fundamental  laws : 

"  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,"  and 

"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." ' 

I.  Supreme  love  to  God,  enjoined  by  "The  First  and 
Great  Commandment,"  brings  a  man  into  right  rela- 

i  Matt.  xxii.  37,  39. 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  117 

tions  with  God  and  establishes  that  spiritual  health 
which  we  call  salvation. 

Human  nature  is  selfish,  and  there  is  no  salvation 
either'for  the  individual  or  for  society  which  does  not 
save  from  selfishness.  A  man  may  observe  with  scrupu- 
lous exactness  the  rites  of  the  most  elaborate  ceremonial 
and  yet  remain  supremely  selfish — the  Judaic  failure  of 
ritualism.  He  may  devote  his  life  to  the  cultivation  of 
art  and  yet  be  ready  to  sacrifice  others  to  himself — the 
Grecian  failure  of  culture.  He  may  conform  his  out- 
ward life  to  all  the  requirements  of  law,  may  even 
make  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men  unimpeachable 
under  any  moral  code,  and  yet  remain  wholly  self- 
centred — the  Roman  failure  of  legalism.  His  selfish- 
ness will  be  refined  and  polished,  but  none  the  less 
selfish. 

Love  is  the  natural  opposite  of  selfishness  and  its 
divine  antidote.  It  reverses  the  inward  movement  and 
transforms  the  whirlpool  into  a  fountain.  When  self- 
ishness has  been  overcome,  it  is  because 

"  Love  took  up  the  harp  of  Life,  and  smote  on  all  the  chords  with  might, 
Smote  the  chord  of  Self,  that,  trembling,  pass'd  in  music  out  of  sight."  > 

Ritualism,  culture,  and  legalism  have  no  power  to 
eradicate  selfishness,  and  therefore  no  saving  power, 
because  they  are  impotent  to  inspire  love  for  God  and 
fellow-men.  Christ  not  only  taught  the  duty  of  loving 
God  and  man,  but  revealed  a  Godhead  and  a  manhood 
that  are  lovable.  He  does  not  ask  us  to  love  abstract 
holiness,  beauty,  or  law.  Abstractions  have  little  power 
to  kindle  the  holy  passion.  As  Emerson  says,  "  Persons 
are  love's  world."  In  his  own  person  Christ  presents 
a  character  capable  of  inspiring  an  overmastering  love, 
one  which  is  found  to  be  a  love  both  for  God  and  man. 
If  Christ  lacked  this  love-inspiring  power,  he  could  save 
neither  the  individual  nor  society ;  possessing  it,  he  can 
save  both. 

This  is  called  the  First  and  Great  Commandment  be- 

1  Tennyson's  Locksley  Hall. 


118  THE  NEW  ERA. 

cause  our  relations  to  God  are  more  fundamental,  far 
more  imperative  and  determinative,  than  our  relations 
with  our  fellow-men.  Obedience  or  disobedience  to  this 
command  determines  the  character  of  the  individual, 
who  is  the  social  unit.  Society  cannot  be  saved  until 
its  units  are  saved— a  truth  which  the  "saviours  of 
society"  commonly  forget.  It  has  been  thought  that 
another  system  of  taxation,  or  a  reorganization  of  in- 
dustry, or  a  different  method  of  teaching,  or  an  equal 
distribution  of  property,  or  the  organization  of  business 
on  a  co-operative  instead  of  the  competitive  basis — 
that,  in  short,  another  way  of  doing  things  would  set 
society  right  and  usher  in  the  millennium  per  saltum. 
Hamlet  said : 

"  The  time  is  out  of  joint:  O  cursed  spite  1 
That  ever  I  was  born  to  set  it  right  1 " 

Many  who  see  that  society  is  out  of  joint  and  believe 
with  Hamlet  that  they  were  born  to  set  it  right  do  not 
seem  to  share  his  sense  of  burden.  They  toss  off  a  new 
plan  for  the  regeneration  of  the  world  before  breakfast. 
But  all  quick  and  easy  processes  for  regenerating  society 
without  regenerating  the  individuals  who  compose  it 
are  delusions. 

The  social  problem  has  two  great  factors,  man  himself 
and  his  environment.  Socialistic  and  all  other  efforts 
which  practically  ignore  the  more  important  of  these 
two  factors  must  fail  to  find  the  solution.  Personality 
is  more  fundamental  than  relations.  Man's  relations 
cannot  be  right  while  man  himself  is  wrong.  Human 
systems  fail  because  they  deal  with  relations,  environ- 
ment, and  leave  character  untouched.  A  right  environ- 
ment is  deemed  sufficient  to  rectify  human  nature. 
Depravity  passes  for  nothing  or  is  only  incidental — the 
effect  of  a  wrong  environment.  Such  is  the  teaching  of 
the  author  of  "Looking  Backward"  in  his  parable  of 
the  rose-tree  in  the  bog. 

But  if  man  is  naturally  unselfish,  how  are  we  to  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  in  all  lands  and  in  all  ages  he 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  US 

has  lived  precisely  as  if  he  were  naturally  selfish  ?  If 
human  nature  is  essentially  angelic,  how  is  it  that  men 
have  spent  some  thousands  of  years  in  cutting  one 
another's  throats  ?  We  are  told  that  the  social  system 
has  rendered  them  selfish  and  depraved.  But  there 
was  not  a  selfish  and  depraved  social  system  prepared 
and  waiting  for  the  advent  of  the  race,  to  which  inno- 
cent and  angelic  man  fell  a  victim.  Men  created  their 
own  social  system.  How  could  unselfish  men  produce 
a  selfish  system  and  continue  to  live  under  it  unre- 
f ormed  for  hundreds  of  generations  ? 

Without  doubt,  circumstances  have  a  profound  in- 
fluence on  character.  Selfishness  is  aggravated  by 
struggle  with  selfish  competitors ;  but  manifestly  society 
did  not  produce  human  nature,  it  was  human  nature 
that  produced  society,  though  their  influence  is  re- 
ciprocal. Evidently  both  factors  of  the  problem  must 
needs  be  reckoned  with ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  man 
needs  a  new  heart  quite  as  much  as  he  needs  a  new 
environment. 

Again,  obedience  to  the  first  great  command  of  Christ 
not  only  eradicates  selfishness,  as  we  have  seen,  but 
makes  a  man  free  under  law. 

There  could  of  course  be  no  virtue,  no  moral  dignity, 
no  moral  character,  good  or  bad,  without  freedom.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  could  not  be  a  universe  without 
universal  law,  and  there  could  be  no  order  or  harmony 
without  obedience  to  law.  Obedience  against  inclina- 
tion is  bondage,  but  where  inclination  perfectly  coin- 
cides with  the  law  there  is  neither  restraint  nor  con- 
straint, but  as  much  freedom  as  if  the  law  did  not  exist. 
"  I  will  walk  at  liberty,  for  I  seek  thy  precepts."  '  Laws 
against  murder  and  arson  in  no  degree  restrict  the 
freedom  of  the  good  citizen.  So  far,  then,  as  we  love  the 
laws  of  the  universe  we  are  free  under  them,  and  so  far 
as  we  love  God  intelligently  we  love  his  will  and  his 
laws  which  are  an  expression  of  his  will.  Love  is  the 

>  Psalm  cxix.  45. 


120  THE  NEW  ERA. 

fulfilling  of  law,  not  because  it  is  accepted  as  a  substi- 
tute for  obedience,  as  some  seem  to  think,  but  because 
it  leads  to  obedience.  "He  that  hath  my  command- 
ments and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that  loveth  me."  "  If 
a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words." '  If  men  loved 
God  perfectly,  they  would  love  all  of  his  laws  perfectly 
and,  therefore,  be  perfectly  free  under  them. 

Again,  perfect  love  to  God,  which  is  intelligent,  would 
lead  to  a  full  development  of  the  entire  man,  which 
would  be  a  true  and  perfect  individualism. 

Nature  is  full  of  variety.  Of  the  millions  of  leaves  in 
an  oak  forest  no  two  are  exactly  alike.  God  never  re- 
peats himself  even  in  his  humblest  creations,  and  the 
higher  the  rank  in  nature  the  greater  the  individuality. 
Nature  sees  to  it  that  children  of  the  same  parents  and 
subject  to  the  same  outward  influences  aj-e  very  differ- 
ent. I  take  it  that  God  deems  every  human  being  of 
sufficient  importance  to  give  him  characteristics  which 
when  developed  will  distinguish  him  from  all  mankind. 
False  education  and  conventionalities  suppress  these 
differences,  but  perfect  obedience  to  all  the  laws  which 
God  has  implanted  in  the  individual  will  secure  his 
perfect  development,  and  nothing  else  can.  When  we 
remember  that  all  the  laws  of  our  being  are  expres- 
sions of  the  divine  will,  and  that  perfect  love  to  God 
leads  to  perfect  obedience,  it  becomes  apparent  that 
a  true  and  perfect  individualism  is  to  be  achieved 
through  obedience  to  the  first  great  law  of  Christ. 
Such  an  individualism  would  of  course  be  wholly  un- 
selfish. 

It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  exactly  here  do 
we  see  the  perfect  harmony  between  religion  and  cul- 
ture. When  it  is  supposed  that  the  laws  of  the  spirit- 
ual nature  are  radically  different  in  origin  and  obliga- 
tion from  those  which  govern  the  intellectual  and 
physical  life,  and  when  religion  is  confined  to  the 
former  and  culture  to  the  latter,  and  the  advocates  of 

»  John  xiv.  81,  28. 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  121 

each  depreciate  the  other,  it  is  not  strange  that  there 
should  seem  to  be  an  irreconcilable  conflict  between 
them.  But  what  is  religion,  if  not  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God  ?  And  what  is  culture,  if  not  the  development 
of  man's  nature  according  to  its  laws  ?  Now  when  we 
see  that  the  laws  of  our  entire  nature  are  expressions  of 
the  divine  will,  we  perceive  that  religion  and  culture 
are  coextensive,  that  each  is  concerned  with  the  entire 
man,  and  that  each  is  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the 
other. 

II.  Turn  now  to  the  second  fundamental  law. 

Organized  society  is  asking  the  question  to-day, 
"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  And  the  answer 
comes  from  the  Great  Teacher,  ' '  Love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  The  individual  can  be  saved  only  as  he  ac- 
cepts the  first  command ;  society  can  be  saved  only  as 
it  accepts  the  second.  This  second  law  was  certainly 
intended  to  govern  men  in  their  relations  with  each 
other  precisely  as  the  first  law  was  intended  to  govern 
men  in  their  relations  with  God.  The  one  follows 
naturally  from  the  other.  Men  could  not  come  into 
perfect  harmony  with  God  without  coming  into  perfect 
harmony  with  each  other.  If  God  is  to  be  loved  as  a 
father,  men  must  be  loved  as  brothers.  We  cannot 
suppose  that  one  command  was  intended  for  an  earthly 
and  the  other  for  a  heavenly  society,  that  the  one  is 
practical  and  the  other  ideal  and  impracticable.  Christ 
declares  that  the  second  is  "like  unto"  the  first,  and 
that  on  "  these  two  "  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
These  two  commands  rest  on  precisely  the  same  au- 
thority, they  are  an  application  of  one  and  the  same 
principle  to  man  in  his  twofold  relations.  Evidently 
the  love  of  our  neighbor,  inculcated  by  Christ,  was  in- 
tended to  be  not  simply  a  kindly  sentiment  which 
should  mitigate  somewhat  the  results  of  human  selfish- 
ness, nor  a  beautiful  ideal  to  be  realized  only  in  a 
heavenly  existence,  but  a  practical  working  principle, 
intended  to  control  the  organization  of  human  society. 

This  is  the  verdict  of  the  most  distinguished  authority 


122  TEE  NEW  ERA. 

in  social  science.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  as  we  have 
already  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  studying  social 
relations  and  seeking  in  human  experience  for  a  rule  of 
life,  arrives  by  a  scientific  method  at  the  very  law  laid 
down  by  Christ  nearly  two  thousand  years  before  the 
birth  of  social  science.  This  "royal  law,"  as  St.  James 
calls  it,  if  universally  obeyed,  would  certainly  har- 
monize all  human  relationships.  We  should  hear  no 
more  of  pauperism  and  crime,  of  wrong,  oppression,  and 
strife,  of  strikes  and  lockouts,  of  caste  and  color-line, 
of  pride  and  selfishness.  Each  member  of  society  with 
his  special  gifts  developed  according  to  the  laws  of  his 
nature,  or,  in  a  word,  each  one  individualized  by  intelli- 
gent obedience  to  the  first  great  law,  would  render  the 
service  for  which  he  was  best  fitted,  thus  making  possi- 
ble a  closer  and  higher  organization  of  society.  In 
such  a  society  there  would  be  perfect  organization 
without  tyranny  and  perfect  individualism  without 
selfishness — perfect  law  and  perfect  liberty,  perfect 
unity  in  the  midst  of  complete  diversity.  Thus  we  see 
that  obedience  to  Christ's  two  laws  would  effect  the 
complete  co-ordination  of  the  two  great  principles  on 
which  depends  the  progress  of  civilization. 

But  Christ  says  :  "  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto 
you,  That  ye  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you.'1'1 ' 
Now  Christ  sacrificed  himself  for  us,  loved  us  more 
than  he  loved  himself.  This  new  commandment,  there- 
fore, requires  us  to  love  our  neighbor  more  than  we 
love  ourselves.  Here  is  a  seeming  discrepancy.  "As 
thyself"  is  a  different  standard  from  Christ's  self- 
giving  love.  The  one  is  the  measure  of  justice,  the 
other  that  of  sacrifice.  Is  not  this  the  explanation  ? 
Love  measured  by  justice  is  the  law  of  a  normal 
society,  while  love  measured  by  sacrifice  is  remedial 
and  necessary  to  restore  the  disordered  and  abnormal 
society  of  the  world  to  a  normal  condition.  Selfishness 
loves  itself  better  than  others ;  its  cure  is  to  love  others 

i  John  xiii.  34. 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  123 

better  than  self.    Selfishness  would  sacrifice  others  to 
itself ;  its  remedy  is  the  sacrifice  of  self  for  others. 

The  church  recognizes  the  remedial  law  of  sacrifice, 
and  in  all  her  saving  work  exemplifies  it ;  but  the  law, 
"  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  which  is  the 
organic  law  of  a  normal  society,  she  has  not  definitely 
aimed  to  make  the  basis  of  social  organization,  because 
she  has  not  expected  to  see  on  the  earth  a  normal  and 
perfect  society.  Her  aim  has  been  to  save  men  out  of 
the  world  rather  than  to  save  the  world  itself ;  to  fit 
men  for  a  perfect  society  in  another  world  rather  than 
to  perfect  society  in  this  world.  Of  course  bringing 
many  individuals  into  right  relations  with  God  has 
done  much  to  rectify  men's  relations  with  each  other, 
but  these  good  social  results  have  been  for  the  most 
part  indirect  and  incidental,  not  included  in  the  con- 
scious and  direct  aim  of  the  church. 

Protestant  churches  especially  have  thought  that  true 
religion  consisted  in  right  relations  between  the  indi- 
vidual soul  and  God.  They  have  emphasized  the  first 
great  command,  but  have  failed  to  appreciate  the 
second ;  have  forgotten,  as  Dr.  Parkhurst  aptly  says, 
that  "  God  and  one  man  could  make  any  other  religion, 
but  it  requires  God««nd  two  men  to  make  Christianity." 
The  church  has  regarded  the  second  great  command  as 
an  ideal  beyond  the  attainment  of  human  society,  a 
beautiful  sentiment  to  be  admired  rather  than  a  prac- 
tical law  to  be  obeyed  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  social, 
industrial,  commercial,  and  political.  So  true  is  this 
that  many  will  look  on  a  serious  attempt  to  make  the 
law  of  love  to  one's  neighbor  the  warp  running  through 
all  our  social  fabric  as  highly  quixotic. 

This  failure  of  the  church  to  perceive  that  it  is  as 
much  her  mission  to  bring  society  under  the  second  law 
as  to  bring  individuals  under  the  first  has  had  far- 
reaching  consequences.  It  has  resulted  in  maiming  the 
Christian  life  and  belittling  Christ's  conception  of  it. 
Instead  of  including  the  entire  life,  religion  has  been 
an  adjunct.  Life  has  been  divided  into  the  sacred 


124  THE  NEW  ERA. 

and  the  secular.  "This  distinction  which  has  been  so 
constantly  and  so  fatally  maintained  was  unknown  to 
the  early  church."  '  According  to  the  New  Testament 
conception  the  entire  man— body,  soul,  and  spirit— and 
the  entire  life  are  sacred.  But  this  restricted  view, 
which  the  church  has  held  since  the  early  Christian  cen- 
turies, makes  two  thirds  of  the  man  and  about  six 
sevenths  of  the  time  "secular."  To  this  large  propor- 
tion of  the  life  Christ's  teachings  are  supposed  to  be 
hardly  applicable.  For  all  that  is  "  secular  "  the  stand- 
ard is  furnished  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  require- 
ments of  business  and"  of  accepted  morality.  So  that 
many  Christian  men  to-day  regard  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  as  no  more  applicable  to  business  than  to  chem- 
istry or  mathematics. 

From  all  this  has  followed  naturally  a  divorce  of  doc- 
trine and  conduct  which  Christ  so  scathingly  rebuked 
in  the  Pharisees,  and  on  which  he  would  pour  his  hot 
indignation  were  he  walking  among  us  to-day.  Where- 
ever  this  divorce  takes  place  religion  is  supposed  to 
consist  in  assent  to  the  doctrines  of  the  church  and  in 
careful  observance  of  religious  days  and  ceremonies. 
I  am  glad  to  believe  that  with  most  professing  Chris- 
tians in  this  country  this  divorce  is  only  partial ;  still  it 
has  given  to  the  church  generally  an  exaggerated  esti- 
mate of  the  importance  of  doctrine  as  compared  with 
conduct,  and  has  created  an  almost  universal  impres- 
sion that  religion  is  concerned  much  more  with  worship 
than  with  every-day  life.  But  St.  John  when  describing 
a  perfected  society  on  the  earth,  the  new  Jerusalem 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  said,  "I  saw  no 
temple  therein,"  which  unquestionably  implies  "that 
the  ideal  of  the  primitive  church  was  one  not  of  wor- 
ship, but  of  a  life  pervaded  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  ...  no 
temple,  but  a  God -inhabited  society."  2  Worship  is 
exceedingly  important,  as  is  true  doctrine  concerning 
the  future  life;  but,  as  Canon  Fremantle  says3:  "To 

1  Canon  Fremantle's  Gospel  of  tbe  Secular  Life,  p.  73. 
» Ibid.  pp.  64,  67  » Ibid.  p.  73. 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  125 

gather  from  the  Gospels  a  system  which  is  solely  or 
chiefly  a  system  of  public  worship,  and  of  instruction 
concerning  the  life  to  come,  would  be  a  strange  infatua- 
tion. All  is  directed  to  insure  a  present  life  of  right- 
eousness and  of  love,  a  life  lived  in  the  realization  of  a 
present  God,  whose  kingdom  is  here  within  us." 

God  forbid  that  I  should  belittle  eternal  values. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  danger  that  the  unseen  world 
will  be  any  too  real  to  us.  Out  of  it  come  the  noblest 
and  mightiest  motives  of  life.  The  unseen  realities  are 
not  only  greater  but  seem  to  me  more  real  than  any 
other.  However  much  a  man  may  have  to  live  for,  the 
good  man  has  unspeakably  more  to  die  for.  Far  be  it 
from  me  to  obscure  the  eternal  life  in  the  perception  of 
any.  It  is  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  that  life  that  we  need 
true  views  of  this.  If  the  church  had  faithfully  incul- 
cated the  second  law  of  Christ,  she  would  have  brought 
many  more  into  obedience  to  the  first. 

Nor  do  I  depreciate  doctrine.  So  long  as  there  is  a 
radical  difference  between  truth  and  falsehood,  and  so 
long  as  truth  sustains  relations  to  life,  it  will  make  a 
difference  whether  men  believe  true  or  false  doctrine. 
Doctrines  are  the  roots  of  life.  Great  lives  do  not  grow 
out  of  false  beliefs.  Yes,  doctrine  is  immensely  impor- 
tant, but  not  all-important.  The  root  does  not  exist  for 
itself ;  it  is  a  means  to  the  tree  and  the  fruit  as  an  end. 
A  Christian  truth  in  the  heart  brings  forth  Christian  acts 
in  the  life  as  naturally  as  the  root  pushes  its  stalk  up 
into  the  air  and  the  sun.  Cut  the  stalk,  fell  the  tree,  and 
the  root  dies  at  length.  A  faith  without  works  is  soon 
dead.  If  our  doctrines  do  not  flower  and  fruit  in  Chris- 
tian  living,  they  die.  Many  a  man's  creed  is  a  field  full 
of  stumps.  There  was  life  there  once,  but  because  the 
natural  expression  of  that  life  was  prevented  it  per- 
ished. We  have  not  overestimated  the  importance  of 
believing  the  truth,  but  we  have  underestimated  the 
importance  of  living  the  truth. 

Protestant  churches  have  laid  none  too  much  stress 
on  the  relations  of  the  individual  to  God.  These  rela- 


126  THE  NEW  ERA. 

tions  are  fundamental  and  their  importance  cannot  be 
exaggerated.  The  mistake  of  the  churches  has  been,  not 
in  emphasizing  the  first  great  command,  but  in  neglect- 
ing the  second.  If  the  pendulum  should  now  swing  to 
the  other  extreme  and  the  churches  should  emphasize 
the  second  command  to  the  neglect  of  the  first,  that 
would  be  a  mistake  greater  than  the  other.  This  mis- 
take has  been  made  by  some  unevangelical  churches. 
It  was  the  partial  view  of  religion  held  by  the  orthodox 
churches  of  New  England,  their  neglect  of  manward 
obligations,  which  led  to  the  humanitarian  movement 
of  the  Unitarians.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  disposi- 
tion among  the  latter  to  make  humanitarian  service  a 
substitute  for  piety.  This  is  a  radical  mistake.  There 
can  be  no  substitute  for  right  relations  with  God. 
Service  to  our  fellow-men  should  be  made  not  a  substi- 
tute for  piety,  but  an  expression  of  it.  Show  me  thy 
works  without  thy  faith,  or  "  show  me  thy  faith  without 
thy  works,  and  I  will  show  thee  my  faith  by  my 
works." l 

It  is  a  lamentable  blunder  to  separate  religion  and 
philanthropy,  a  sad  comment  on  the  church  that  a 
sharp  distinction  between  them  ever  came  into  use. 
Alas  !  that  the  love  of  our  fellow-men  is  something  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  religion  of  Christ.  In  their 
last  interview  thrice  does  Peter  protest  his  love  to  his 
Master,  and  thrice  Christ  bids  him  show  his  love  by 
service  to  his  fellow-men.  Christ  identifies  himself 
with  the  hungry,  the  naked,  the  sick,  and  the  impris- 
oned, and  says:  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me." "  Obviously  in  Christ's  conception,  to  serve  men  is 
to  serve  him.  But  this  is  not  the  common  conception ; 
we  talk  of  "divine  service"  as  if  it  meant  only  prayer 
and  praise  and  the  hearing  of  sermons.  Visiting  the 
fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction  we  call  philan- 
thropy, and  keeping  one's  self  unspotted  from  the  world 

>  James  ii.  18.  2  Matt.  xxv.  40. 


TEE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  127 

we  would  probably  call  morality;  but  St.  James  says 
that  these  things  are  religion  "pure  and  undefiled 
before  God."  l  True  religion  is  philanthropic  and  true 
philanthropy  is  religious,  and  to  divorce  the  one  from 
the  other  is  to  libel  and  cripple  both. 

The  failure  of  the  church  to  accept  and  apply  the 
second  fundamental  law  of  Christ,  by  leading  to  a  false 
distinction  between  the  sacred  and  the  secular,  and  by 
divorcing  doctrine  and  conduct,  religion  and  philan- 
thropy, has  given  to  the  multitude  the  impression  that 
religion  is  not  concerned  with  real  life  and  has  thus 
served  to  separate  the  masses  from  the  church.  This 
subject  will  receive  fuller  consideration  in  a  later 
chapter. 

Again,  the  neglect  of  the  second  law  has  resulted  in  a 
selfish  individualism.  The  emphasis  laid  on  the  first 
command  touching  the  relations  of  the  individual  to 
God  has  developed  a  sense  of  his  worth  and  the  sacred- 
ness  of  his  rights;  for  if  he  has  duties  to  God  from 
which  no  man  can  release  him,  he  has  rights  of  which 
no  man  must  rob  him.  But  the  failure  to  insist  equally 
upon  the  second  command  has  made  the  individual  con- 
tracted and  self-concerned.  He  now  needs  to  have 
strengthened  the  sense  of  duty  to  society,  he  needs  to 
hold  in  higher  esteem  the  common  weal,  to  gain  a 
clearer  conception  of  the  solidarity  of  the  race,  a  nobler 
conception  of  its  destiny,  and  a  sense  of  personal  re- 
sponsibility, according  to  his  measure,  for  its  ultimate 
perfection. 

Again,  this  failure  of  the  church  to  perceive  that  it  is 
an  essential  part  of  her  mission  to  bring  society  under 
the  second  great  law  of  Christ  has  naturally  resulted  in 
an  organization  of  society  which  is  not  Christian. 

Christ's  fundamental  law  of  society,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  that  of  love,  fraternity.  That  this  is  not  the  basis  of 
society  even  in  the  so-called  Christian  countries  is  too 
obvious  to  require  proof. 

1  James  i.  27. 


128  THE  NEW  ERA. 

"  For  a'  that,  and  a'  that, 
It's  coming  yet,  for  a'  that; 
That  man  to  man,  the  world  o'er, 
Shall  brithers  be  for  a'  that." 

An  evidence  that  this  brotherhood  is  coming  though 
not  yet  come  is  found  in  the  fact  that  men  are  seeking 
it.  The  Masonic  order,  the  Odd  Fellows,  and  the  thou- 
sand other  brotherhoods '  for  insurance,  industrial  ad- 
vantage, and  the  like,  are  attempts  to  supply  what  the 
organization  of  society  does  not  afford.  In  these,  men 
are  blindly  feeling  after  that  which  Christ  sought  to 
establish  when  he  laid  down  his  second  law,  viz.,  a  real 
brotherhood  of  man,  based,  not  as  these  organizations 
are — on  self-interest— but  on  love. 

Existing  society  is  organized  on  a  selfish  basis ;  stren- 
uous competition  is  its  law,  and  "Every  man  for  him- 
self" is  its  motto.  Order  is  preserved  by  a  skilful 
balance  of  conflicting  interests,  the  nice  adjustment  of 
checks  and  counter-checks,  which  is  the  only  harmony 
practicable  to  selfishness. 

I  am  not  saying  that  there  is  no  generosity,  no  dis- 
interestedness in  the  business  or  social  world.  There  is 
a  vast  deal  of  it,  but  it  belongs  to  individuals,  not  to  the 
social  system. 

The  existing  social  system  permits,  not  to  say  necessi- 
tates, practices  which  are  in  direct  violation  of  Christian 
ethics.  Says  the  author  of  "Prisoners  of  Poverty": 
"  A  business  man,  born  to  all  good  things  and  owning  a 
name  known  as  the  synonym  of  the  best  the  Republic 

1  For  the  following  significant  statistics  of  lodges  as  compared  with 
churches  in  various  cities  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Graham  Taylor.  They  were 
compiled  from  city  directories. 

Population.       Churches.    Lodges. 

Buffalo,  1888-9 240,000  144  218 

New  Orleans,  1888-9 216,090  178  270 

Washington,  1888-9 203,459  181  816 

St.  Louis,  1888-9 450,000  220  729 

Worcester,  1888-9 85,000  64  88 

Boston,  1890 448,477  243  599 

Brooklyn,  1890 853,945  855  695 

Chicago,  1890...  1,099,850  884  1088 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  129 

offers  to-day,  states  calmly,  '  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
business  without  lying,'  "  which  is  certainly  too  sweep- 
ing. Another  writer  says':  "It  is  a  common  remark 
that  business  practices  are  not  what  they  should  be, 
and  that  a  sensitive  conscience  must  be  left  at  home 
when  its  possessor  goes  to  the  office  or  the  shop.  We 
helplessly  deplore  this  fact;  we  lament  the  forms  of 
business  depravity  that  come  to  our  notice,  but  attack 
them  with  little  confidence.  We  are  appalled  by  the 
great  fact  of  moral  dualism  in  which  we  live,  and  are 
inclined  to  resign  ourselves  to  the  necessity  of  a  two- 
fold life." 

The  widespread  and  deep  discontent  of  the  artisan 
class  is  sufficient  evidence  that  our  industrial  system  is 
not  based  on  Christian  principles.  That  discontent  will 
continue  until  the  great  sociological  problems  of  the 
times  are  solved ;  and  they  will  not  be  solved  until  the 
teachings  of  Christ  are  applied  to  them.  The  old  polit- 
ical economy  has  been  called  "the  applied  science  of 
selfishness."  We  shall  have  no  industrial  peace  until 
political  economy  becomes  a  department  of  applied 
Christianity,  or,  as  some  would  prefer  to  say,  until 
Christianity  has  been  substituted  for  political  economy. 

We  have  glanced  at  some  of  the  disastrous  results  of 
accepting  and  preaching  only  a  half  Gospel.  Christ 
gave  us  no  superfluous  truths,  no  truths  unrelated  to 
life;  and  when  his  teachings  are  overlooked  or  under- 
valued by  the  church,  the  neglected  truth  appears  in 
perverted,  caricatured,  or  fanatical  form.  The  church 
largely  lost  sight  of  Christ's  humanity,  and  Unitari- 
anism  was  the  result.  The  church  has  not  sufficiently 
insisted  that  salvation  means  salvation  from  sin,  hence 
the  caricature  of  sanctification  taught  and  illustrated 
by  the  modern  perfectionists.  In  like  manner  the 
church  has  neglected  Christ's  teaching  concerning 
human  brotherhood,  which  is  based  on  the  divine 


1  The  Philosophy  of  Wealth,  by  J.  B.  Clark,  p.  157,  quoted  by  H.  C.  Adama 
in  Relation  of  the  State  to  Industrial  Action. 


130  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Fatherhood,  and  there  results  the  fatherless  brother- 
hood taught  by  atheistic  socialism,  which  is  a  caricature 
of  Christ's  teaching. 

Until  very  recent  times  the  church  has  left  the  study 
of  the  science  of  society  almost  wholly  to  unbelievers. 
It  is  significant  that  most  of  the  men  who  have  sought 
to  reorganize  society  on  a  more  just  and  fraternal  basis 
have  been  out  of  sympathy  with  the  church  or  posi- 
tively hostile  to  it,  like  Saint -Simon,  Fourier,  Comte, 
Proudhon,  Marx,  Lassalle,  and  J.  S.  Mill.  True,  a  gen- 
eration ago  there  appeared  a  small  school  of  Christian 
socialists  in  England,  and  now  an  increasing  number  of 
Christian  men  in  the  United  States  call  themselves 
socialists,  but  generally  socialists  have  been  opposed  to 
the  Christian  religion.  The  socialist  Boruttau  says: 
"  No  man  else  is  worthy  of  the  name  socialist  save  he 
who,  himself  an  atheist,  devotes  his  exertions  with  all 
zeal  to  the  spread  of  atheism." 

The  church  believes  in  the  divine  Fatherhood  and  is 
trying  to  induce  the  world  to  accept  it,  but  conceives  of 
a  human  brotherhood  only  as  something  theoretical, 
and  fails  to  create  it.  Social  reformers  have  striven 
for  a  human  brotherhood,  while  most  of  them  have 
neglected  or  rejected  the  divine  Fatherhood.  The 
church  is  insisting  on  the  first  great  law,  and  social 
reformers  on  the  second.  To  this  narrowness  of  aim 
may  be  ascribed  the  very  limited  success  of  both.  The 
time  has  come  to  recognize  the  fact  that  these  two  fun- 
damental laws  are  alike  binding,  and  that  neither  can 
be  perfectly  obeyed  until  perfect  obedience  is  rendered 
to  both.  We  must  accept  both  of  these  hemispheres  of 
truth  and  obligation  which  are  alike  necessary  to  pro- 
duce the  new  world  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 

We  are  now  living  in  the  sociological  age  of  the  world. 
Its  problems  will  not  be  solved  until  their  solution  is 
found  in  the  teachings  of  Christ ;  and  this  fact  consti- 
tutes the  great  opportunity  of  the  church  to  retain  or 
rather  regain  her  hold  on  the  multitude  and  to  mould 
the  civilization  of  the  future  by  accepting,  preaching, 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  131 

and  practising  a  full-orbed  Gospel.  Let  us  see  how  true 
these  propositions  are. 

Each  of  the  several  ages  of  the  Christian  era  has  been 
characterized  by  a  germinal  idea  which  has  been  more 
or  less  central  to  the  thinking  of  that  age.  These  ger- 
minal ideas  have  followed  each  other  in  logical  sequence 
and  have  sprung  naturally  from  Christ's  revelation  of 
God.  Man's  conception  of  his  God  and  his  conception 
of  himself  are  closely  related ;  each  influences  the  other. 
Without  a  revelation  man's  idea  of  God  is  little  else 
than  his  own  image  enlarged  and  projected  on  the  sky. 
Give  him  a  new  idea  of  the  character  of  God  and  there 
will  follow  a  new  and  corresponding  idea  of  human 
nature.  When,  therefore,  Christ  gave  to  the  world  a 
new  and  higher  conception  of  God,  there  was  sure  to 
result  in  due  time  a  new  and  higher  conception  of  man, 
from  which  would  be  wrought  out  naturally  new  con- 
ceptions of  man's  individual  life— his  personal  relations 
to  God,  and  new  conceptions  of  his  social  life — his  rela- 
tions to  his  fellow-men. 

This,  then,  is  the  natural  order  in  the  development  of 
human  thought  and  progress  to  have  been  expected  in 
the  Christian  era ;  and  history  shows  this  to  have  been 
the  actual  order.  First,  theology  proper  or  the  doctrine 
of  God,  then  anthropology  or  the  doctrine  of  man,  then 
soteriology  or  the  doctrine  of  salvation,  which  treats  of 
the  relations  of  God  and  man,  and  lastly  sociology  or 
the  doctrine  of  society,  the  relations  of  man  to  his  fel- 
lows. 

The  discussion  of  each  of  these  doctrines  or  each  clus- 
ter of  doctrines  occupied  several  generations,  and  some 
continued  through  several  centuries  before  they  were 
authoritatively  formulated  by  the  church.  Because 
these  doctrines  are  logically  connected  these  discussions 
naturally  overlapped,  but  they  were  each  of  supreme 
interest  in  their  respective  periods. 

The  third  period  closed  during  the  great  reformation 
of  the  sixteenth  century  with  the  formulation,  in  the 
Protestant  symbols,  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by 


132  THE  NEW  ERA. 

faith,  and  then  began  the  sociological  age,  which  will 
continue  until  its  problems  are  solved  by  bringing  men 
into  right  relations  with  each  other. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  the  organization  both  of  the 
church  and  of  society  was  such  as  to  suppress  the  indi- 
vidual. The  German  Reformation,  based  as  it  was  on 
the  right  of  private  judgment,  gave  a  powerful  stimulus 
to  the  development  of  individualism.  A  truer  concep- 
tion of  the  individual,  his  worth,  his  rights,  his  duties, 
is  the  great  underlying  cause  of  the  world's  swift 
progress  during  the  last  three  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

During  the  Dark  Ages,  when  individuality  was  sup- 
pressed, the  most  important  question  concerning  every 
human  being  was,  What  are  his  relations  to  the  church  ? 
But  as  soon  as  the  Roman  yoke  was  broken  and  indi- 
viduality asserted  itself,  men  began  to  seek  the  proper 
adjustment  of  relations  between  man  and  man.  And 
precisely  here  do  we  find  the  key  of  every  great  social 
movement  or  agitation  for  the  past  three  and  a  half 
centuries. 

The  remarkable  progress  of  democracy  means  that 
men  have  been  successfully  seeking  a  better  adjustment 
of  their  political  relations  one  with  another.  Woman  is 
assuming  her  rightful  place  at  the  side  of  man  instead 
of  behind  him  at  a  respectful  distance  or  at  his  feet ; 
and  woman's  changed  status  means  that  her  social 
and  industrial  and  marital  relations  have  improved. 
Slavery  has  disappeared  from  Christendom  because 
men  have  learned  that  manhood  is  too  sacred  a  thing 
to  tolerate  the  relation  of  master  and  slave.  Labor  agi- 
tations and  reforms  mean  that  men  are  demanding  a 
readjustment  of  industrial  relations;  while  socialism 
avowedly  aims  to  revolutionize  the  whole  social  system. 
That  is,  all  of  these  great  movements  are  attempts  to 
readjust  and  rectify  the  relations  of  the  individual  to 
his  fellow-men,  showing  that  this  is  the  sociological 
age  of  the  world. 

Now  in  each  of  the  preceding  ages  of  the  Christian 
era  there  were  dispute  and  struggle  and  unrest  through 


THE  TWO  FUNDAMENTAL  LAWS.  133 

succeeding  generations  until  the  majority  of  Christian 
thinkers  agreed  on  conclusions  which  were  in  harmony 
or  were  at  least  believed  to  be  in  harmony  with  the 
teachings  of  Christ.  No  doctrine  of  God  could  stand 
which  was  inconsistent  with  the  facts  in  the  life  and 
character  of  Christ  or  in  conflict  with  his  teachings. 
No  doctrine  of  man  could  stand  which  did  not  harmo- 
nize with  the  human  nature  of  Christ  and  the  instruc- 
tions of  the  Great  Teacher.  No  doctrine  of  salvation 
could  stand  which  was  not  built  on  him  as  the  only 
foundation.  And  if  the  world's  experience  for  fifteen 
hundred  years  is  worth  anything,  no  doctrine  of  the 
relations  of  man  to  his  fellows,  no  social  system  incon- 
sistent with  the  great  second  law  of  Christ,  can  endure. 
The  fact  that  Christ's  teachings  concerning  the  nature 
of  God,  the  nature  of  man,  and  the  relations  of  God 
and  man,  are  accepted  as  final  is  ground  for  assurance 
that  his  teaching  concerning  man's  relations  to  his 
neighbor  will  also  be  accepted  as  final. 

Add  to  this  presumption  the  sweet  reasonableness  of 
the  two  fundamental  laws  laid  down  by  the  Great 
Teacher,  the  fact  that  they  obviously  underlie  the  con- 
stitution of  man  and  of  normal  society,  that  they  recog- 
nize the  two  great  principles  of  individualism  and 
organization  on  which  the  world's  progress  has  been  so 
manifestly  conditioned,  and  moreover  effect  the  perfect 
co-ordination  of  these  two  principles  which  heretofore 
have  seemed  conflicting,  and  who  can  doubt  the  final 
acceptance  of  Christ's  teachings  or  question  that  in 
their  application  must  be  found  the  solution  of  our 
sociological  problems  ? 

And  of  course  if  Christ's  teachings  are  to  triumph, 
whatever  is  inconsistent  with  them  must  give  way.  If 
it  is  true,  which  I  do  not  believe,  that  under  the  present 
constitution  of  society  "there  is  no  such  thing  as  busi- 
ness without  lying,"  that  "a  sensitive  conscience  must 
be  left  at  home  when  its  possessor  goes  to  the  office  or 
the  shop,"  then  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  present 
social  system  is  temporary.  Mr.  J.  B.  Clark  says: 


134  THE  NEW  ERA. 

"  When  Professor  Cairnes  demolished  the  scientific  pre- 
tensions of  laissez-faire,  he  took  from  us  all  hope  of 
reconciling  the  Christian  rule  of  ethics  with  the  preva- 
lent practice  of  Christian  peoples."  '  If  this  be  true, 
which  I  do  not  doubt,  then  "the  prevalent  practice  of 
Christian  peoples "  must  cease  and  will  cease.  So  far 
as  the  present  social  system  is  selfish  it  is  anti-Chris- 
tian and,  therefore,  temporary.  The  two  laws  of  Christ 
contemplate  a  complete  and  unselfish  individualism 
and  at  the  same  time  a  universal  brotherhood:  and 
until  these  are  realized  the  race  cannot  be  perfected. 
The  present  competitive  system,  though  it  produces  a 
strong  individualism,  makes  impossible  a  true  brother- 
hood of  all  men,  and  is,  therefore,  as  inconsistent  with 
the  highest  good  of  the  race  and  as  surely  temporary 
as  would  be  a  socialistic  system  which,  though  it  pro- 
vided for  brotherhood,  served  to  repress  the  individual. 
Our  existing  social  system,  then,  is  destined  to  un- 
dergo great  changes  before  the  sociological  problems 
of  the  age  are  solved.  And  as  their  solution  must  come 
through  the  application  of  Christ's  teachings,  this 
surely  is  the  opportunity  of  the  centuries  for  the 
church  to  mould  the  civilization  of  the  future  by  taking 
to  heart  and  applying  to  life  the  teachings  of  her  Lord 
in  all  their  fulness.  "  The  conversion  of  the  church  to 
Christian  theory  must  precede  the  conversion  of  the 
world  to  Christian  practice."  * 

1  Quoted  by  H.  C.  Adams  in  Relations  of  the  State  to  Industrial  Action, 
p.  45. 

2  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon  the  Christian  Church,  by 
Edwin  Hatch,  D.D.,  p.  170. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

POPULAR  DISCONTENT. 

THE  fact  of  popular  discontent  is  too  obvious  to  re- 
quire proof.  Its  extent  may  be  briefly  noticed  before 
we  consider  its  causes  and  its  significance. 

It  prevails  chiefly  among  artisans  and  farmers,  and 
shows  itself  in  the  numerous  organizations  among  these 
classes  which  have  sprung  into  existence  in  recent 
years.  Among  the  former  the  most  powerful  organiza- 
tion is  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  which  has 
over  6000  local  unions  with  an  aggregate  membership 
of  675,000;  while  the  various  Granges,  Associations, 
Leagues,  and  Alliances  of  farmers  have  a  combined 
membership,  it  is  said,  of  not  less  than  3,000,000.  This 
discontent  has  framed  the  platforms  of  new  political 
parties,  has  found  many  organs  in  the  press,  and  fur- 
ther utters  itself  in  numerous  strikes  and  serious  riots. 
In  this  country,  from  1881  to  1886  inclusive,  1,323,203 
employes  were  involved  in  strikes,  directly  affecting 
22,304  establishments.1  In  the  summer  of  1892,  within 
a  few  days  of  each  other,  the  states  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Tennessee  ordered  out  their  militia,  while 
Idaho  called  on  the  United  States  government  for 
troops  to  suppress  labor  riots.  In  Europe,  like  discon- 
tent finds  like  expression  among  the  same  classes. 

First.  Let  us  look  at  the  causes  of  this  discontent. 

To  some  it  seems  causeless,  or  at  least  without  excuse, 
because  workingmen  are  now  better  fed,  better  clothed, 
better  housed  than  ever  before ;  while  many  working- 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1887,  p.  12. 

IBi 


136  THE  NEW  ERA. 

men  believe  that  their  condition  is  growing  constantly 
worse. 

Whether  the  industrial  classes  are  any  happier  now 
than  they  were  a  half -century  ago  may  well  be  doubted, 
but  beyond  question  their  condition  is  improved. 
The  American  economist,  Mr.  David  A.  Wells,  thinks 
that,  taking  into  account  hours,  wages,  and  prices 
of  food,  the  average  farm-laborer  in  the  United  States 
is  twice  as  well  off  as  he  was  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.1 
"In  Mr.  Mulhall's  'History  of  Prices'  he  shows  that 
'  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  has  so  much  im- 
proved that  they  now  consume  in  all  countries  twice 
as  much  as  in  1850.'  Textile  fabrics  are  11  per  cent 
cheaper  than  they  were  in  1860,  books  and  newspapers 
33  per  cent,  and  the  same  amount  of  labor  will  now 
buy  the  workingman  of  Europe  140  pounds  of  bread  as 
against  77  pounds  in  the  decade  ending  1860.  The 
deductions  of  this  statistician  are  that  '  15  shillings 
will  now  buy  as  much  manufactures  as  20  in  the 
years  1841-50,  but  in  matters  of  food  we-  should  require 
22  shillings,1  and  that,  taking  increased  wages  and 
food-values  together,  the  English  workingman  is  able 
to  purchase  21  per  cent  more  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  in  beef,  butter,  sugar,  wheat,  and  coal  than  in  1840. 
Enhanced  rent  reduces  his  ability  considerably,  yet 
after  allowing  for  this  there  is  still  a  gain  of  at  least 
10  per  cent." ' 

Another  English  statistician,  Mr.  Giffen,  is  of  the 
opinion  that  there  has  been  such  a  change  in  the  tex- 
tile, house-building,  and  engineering  trades  during  the 
past  fifty  years  that  the  British  workman  now  gets 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent  more  money  for 
twenty  per  cent  less  work.3  And  for  that  period  the 
rise  of  wages  has  been  greater  in  France  than  in  either 
England  or  America. 

No  doubt  the  condition  of  the  workingman  has  im- 

1  D.  A.  Wells'  Economic  Changes,  p.  409. 

a  The  Christian  Unity  of  Capital  and  Labor,  p.  CO. 

'  D.  A.  Wells'  Economic  Changes,  p.  416. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  137 

proved,  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  he  should  be 
any  better  contented.  A  savage  of  the.  South  Sea 
Islands,  being  presented  with  a  yard  of  cloth  and  a  few- 
fish-hooks,  may  be  much  more  satisfied  with  his  lot  than 
a  mechanic  who  owns  his  home  and  has  all  of  the  neces- 
saries and  many  of  the  comforts  of  civilized  life.  We 
must  take  into  consideration  the  widely  different  stand- 
ards of  living.  There  has  been  a  change  for  the  better 
in  the  circumstances  of  workingmen,  but  there  has  been 
a  still  greater  change  in  the  men  themselves,  which  is  the 
secret  of  increasing  popular  discontent  amid  improving 
conditions.  Evidently  the  problem  has  two  factors 
both  of  which  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  viz., 
the  men  and  their  circumstances. 

1.  In  considering  how  great  has  been  the  change  in 
workingmen,  mark  the  increase  of  popular  intelligence 
during  the  past  century.  We  have  to  go  back  only  a 
few  hundred  years  to  find  many  of  the  nobility  illiter- 
ate. It  is  said  that  of  the  twenty-six  barons  who  signed 
the  Magna  Charta  three  wrote  their  names  and  twenty- 
three  made  their  marks.  It  is  less  than  350  years 
since  a  statute  of  the  English  Parliament  made  pro- 
vision for  the  relief  of  ' '  any  the  Lord  and  Lordes  of 
the  Parliament,  and  pere  and  peres  of  the  Realme, 
hauyng  place  and  voyce  in  Parliament,  upon  his  or 
their  request  or  prayer,  claiming  the  benefit  of  this 
acte,  though  he  cannot  reade."  The  average  laborer  in 
the  United  States  to-day  is  more  intelligent  than  many 
a  great  noble  a  few  centuries  ago.  For  thousands  of 
years  the  sun  of  knowledge  was  below  the  world's  hori- 
zon and  only  the  very  top  of  the  social  pyramid  could 
catch  his  beams.  The  invention  of  printing  was  the 
world's  sunrise  which  drove  the  black  shadows  well 
down  the  sides  of  the  pyramid,  but  left  the  broad 
lower  strata  of  society  still  wrapped  in  the  darkness  of 
ignorance.  There  has  occurred  in  our  own  times  an 
event,  scarcely  less  important  to  the  world  than  the 
invention  of  printing  itself,  which  has  lifted  the  sun 
high  in  the  heavens  and  flooded  the  very  foundations 


138  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  society  with  light.  I  refer  to  the  successful  applica- 
tion of  steam  to  the  printing-press.  Few  appreciate 
the  tremendous  significance  of  this  event.  It  meant 
the  enlightenment  of  the  many,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  world's  history. 

With  the  old  hand -press  two  men  could  make  about 
250  impressions  in  an  hour.  The  great  Hoe  presses  now 
in  use  print,  fold,  and  paste  a  sixteen-page  paper  at  a 
speed  of  24,000  per  hour,  or  a  four-page  paper  at  a  speed 
of  96,000  ;  that  is,  384,000  pages  in  sixty  minutes  by 
steam  as  compared  with  250  pages  by  hand,  or  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  times  as  many. 

"  Forty  years  ago  the  post-office  [of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland]  carried  36,000,000  newspapers  annually;  now 
it  carries  250,000,000."  l  The  increase  of  circulation  has 
been  even  greater  in  the  United  States.  Of  dailies  it  is 
estimated  the  number  of  copies  issued  in  1850  was  235,- 
000,000,  or  ten  to  each  inhabitant  ;  in  1880,  1,126,000,000, 
or  twenty -two  to  each  inhabitant  ;  and  in  1890,  1,981,- 
000,000,  or  thirty -two  to  every  one  of  the  population. 
The  total  number  of  papers  issued  in  this  country  in 
1890,  including  dailies,  tri-weeklies,  semi-weeklies,  week- 
lies, monthlies,  etc.,  is  estimated  at  3,368,000,000,  or 
fifty -four  copies  for  every  inhabitant.2  This  indicates 
a  degree  of  popular  intelligence  which  would  have 
been  quite  impossible  without  the  application  of  steam 
to  the  printing-press.  Before  the  invention  of  printing 
a  written  book  represented  two  or  three  years  of  labor, 
and  few  indeed  could  afford  such  a  luxury.  The  print- 
ing-press made  books  and  papers  common  among  the 
upper  classes,  and  the  application  of  steam  has  made 
them  possible  to  every  one. 

Consider  how  much  this  means.  "The  workmgman, 
this  Titan,  this  monster  of  the  mud-sills,"  says  John 
Swinton,  ' '  who  in  other  crises  has  been  the  bond-slave 
of  wealth  and  power,  this  giant  with  the  basal  brain 


1  Mackenzie's  History  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  194,  note. 
1  World  Almanac,  1891. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  139 

and  hairy  hands,  this  Caliban  has  found  his  Cadmus ;  he 
begins  to  think;  he  has  learned  how  to  read."1  We 
shall  not  be  surprised  that  reading  has  operated  as  an 
unequalled  stimulus  upon  workingmen  when  we  recall 
how  powerfully  it  quickened  the  upper  classes  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  This  was  not  the  only  cause,  but  it 
was  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  that  wonderful  outburst 
of  genius  and  energy  which  marked  the  century  of 
Shakespeare  and  Bacon,  of  Raphael  and  Angelo.  That 
stimulus  made  itself  felt  in  the  channels  along  which 
the  activity  of  the  upper  classes  was  wont  to  flow,  viz., 
in  military  and  naval  adventure  and  in  literature  and 
art.  This  powerful  stimulus,  now  applied  for  the  first 
time  in  history  to  the  popular  mind,  naturally  shows 
itself  in  that  which  is  nearest  the  life  of  the  people — not 
literature  or  art,  but  industry.  As  the  multitude  are 
occupied  in  getting  a  living,  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
results  of  this  new  stimulus  should  appear  in  labor 
agitations  and  organizations. 

Second  only  to  the  influence -of  the  press  on  popular 
intelligence  has  been  that  of  travel.  We  know  how 
much  the  crusades  did  to  give  Europe  new  and  enlarged 
ideas.  There  is  a  modern  crusade  which  is  unending 
and  which  in  point  of  numbers  quite  belittles  the  hosts 
that  sought  to  rescue  the  holy  sepulchre  from  the  grasp 
of  the  Mussulman.  In  1891  the  railways  of  the  United 
States  carried  495,000,000  passengers.  Few  indeed  are 
the  workingmen  in  this  country  who  did  not  swell  those 
millions.  The  educational  influence  of  so  vast  an 
amount  of  travel  is  beyond  computation.  Surely  we 
see  a  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  "Many  shall  run  to 
and  fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased."  2 

A  few  generations  ago,  workingmen,  if  they  travelled 
at  all,  usually  went  on  foot.  Their  journeys  were  of 
necessity  few  and  short.  "Each  little  community  sat 
apart  from  its  fellows,  following  its  own  customs,  cher- 


1  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard's  "  Glimpses  of  Fifty  Years,"  p.  538. 
» Dan.  xii.  4. 


140  THE  NEW  ERA. 

ishing  its  own  prejudices,  feeding  on  its  own  traditions, 
speaking  in  a  dialect  which  men  from  a  distance  failed 
to  understand.  A  stranger  was  ipso  facto  an  enemy. 
There  were  villages  in  England,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  in  which  the  inhabitants  incited  their  dogs  to 
attack  any  stranger  whose  curiosity  led  him  to  visit 
them." '  His  native  village  was  then  the  laborer's 
world.  Travel  and  the  press  have  made  the  modern 
workingman  a  cosmopolitan. 

Add  to  a  man's  knowledge  and  you  enlarge  the 
world  in  which  he  lives;  he  sees  a  wider  horizon;  his 
future  contains  greater  possibilities;  he  becomes  con- 
scious of  new  wants  and  higher  aspirations,  which,  if 
they  cannot  be  satisfied,  naturally  breed  discontent. 
This  has  been  clearly  recognized  by  Count  Tolstoi — not 
Leo,  the  great  writer,  but  the  Russian  Minister  of  the 
Interior— who  proposes  to  stop  the  growth  of  Nihilism 
by  putting  an  end  to  the  higher  education  of  any  mem- 
bers of  the  poorer  classes.  In  1887  he  issued  an  order 
from  which  the  following  is  an  extract:  "The  gym- 
nasia, high  schools,  and  universities  will  henceforth 
refuse  to  receive  as  pupils  or  students  the  children  of 
domestic  servants,  peasants,  tradesmen,  petty  shop- 
keepers, farmers,  and  others  of  like  condition,  whose 
progeny  should  not  be  raised  from  the  circle  to  which 
they  belong,  and  be  thereby  led,  as  long  experience  has 
shown,  ...  to  become  discontented  with  their  lot,  and 
irritated  against  the  inevitable  inequalities  of  the  ex- 
isting social  positions." 

Russia  may  seek  to  allay  popular  discontent  by  such 
a  reactionary  policy,  but  we  cannot.  We  are  bound  to 
"  educate  our  masters."  Popular  power  makes  popular 
intelligence  a  necessity ;  popular  intelligence  makes  the 
multiplication  of  popular  wants  inevitable;  and  the 
multiplication  of  popular  wants,  if  more  rapid  than  the 
improvement  of  the  popular  condition,  necessarily  pro- 
duces popular  discontent.  It  is  quite  too  late  for  us  to 

i  Mackenzie's  Hist.  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  92. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  141 

turn  back.  The  multitude  have  already  tasted  of  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  and  have  be- 
come aware  of  their  nakedness.  The  supplies  which 
cover  the  bare  necessities  of  life  are  mere  fig-leaves. 
The  masses  will  never  be  satisfied  until  their  wants  are 
supplied  with  the  fulness  of  modern  civilization. 

The  average  workingman  two  or  three  generations 
ago  would  no  doubt  have  been  well  content  with  the 
hours,  wages,  food,  lodgings,  and  clothes  of  the  average 
workingman  to-day,  but  during  the  nineteenth  century- 
public  schools,  public  libraries,  art  galleries,  museums, 
expositions,  public  parks,  newspapers,  and  travel  have 
all  become  common.  Advertising,  which  is  the  art  of 
making  people  want  things,  appeals  to  all  classes  alike. 
There  has  been  a  wonderful  levelling  up  of  the  "com- 
mon" people.  Once  great  men  were  gods,  and  slaves 
were  less  than  human.  Now  all  alike  are  men,  having 
much  the  same  wants  and  quite  the  same  rights.  The 
spread  of  democracy,  the  growth  of  individualism,  the 
equality  of  all  men  before  the  law  have  suggested  the 
idea  of  equality  of  condition  and  made  the  masses  feel 
that  they  are  as  capable  of  enjoying  the  good  things  of 
life  as  the  classes.  All  these  have  contributed  power- 
fully to  increase  the  intelligence  and  wants  of  working- 
men,  and  the  resulting  elevation  of  the  standard  of 
living  has  made  a  home,  a  table,  a  coat  seem  almost 
intolerable  which  once  would  have  been  deemed  com- 
fortable and  even  luxurious.  The  workingman  of 
to-day  may  have,  if  you  please,  twice  as  much  as  his 
grandfather  had,  but  he  knows,  say,  ten  times  as  much 
and  wants  ten  times  as  much ;  hence  his  discontent. 

2.  We  have  glanced  at  the  man ;  let  us  now  look  at 
his  circumstances. 

The  conditions  under  which  he  works  are  radically 
different  from  what  they  were  a  hundred  years  ago. 
Profound  economic  changes  have  attended  the  transi- 
tion in  the  world's  methods  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion which  has  taken  place  during  this  century  and 
more  especially  during  the  past  twenty -five  or  thirty 


142  THE  NEW  ERA. 

years.  It  is  to  this  source  we  must  look  for  some  of  the 
principal  causes  of  popular  discontent  which  has  been 
pronounced  ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  indus- 
trial depression  which  began  in  1873  and  affected  all 
classes,  but  more  especially  laboring  men. 

In  the  "age  of  homespun"  industry  was  individual; 
it  has  now  become  organized.  This  organization  first 
extended  from  the  home  to  the  factory.  Soon  the  fac- 
tory became  a  part  of  a  larger  system,  including  in  its 
organization  the  town,  the  province  or  region,  then  the 
whole  country;  and  now  we  have  entered  on  the  last 
great  stage,  viz.,  that  of  organizing  the  industries  of 
the  world. 

Each  new  stage  in  this  development  has  necessarily 
disturbed  industry  and  required  a  more  or  less  ex- 
tended readjustment  of  labor.  Every  great  labor-sav- 
ing invention  has  of  course  thrown  thousands  out  of 
employment,  though  every  such  mechanical  triumph 
has  ultimately  given  employment  to  many  for  every 
one  that  it  has  robbed  of  work.  Thus,  when  Ark- 
wright  invented  his  cotton-spinning  machinery  in  1760, 
there  were  in  England  some  7,900  persons  engaged  in 
the  production  of  cotton  textiles.  The  introduction  of 
this  machinery  threw  most  of  these  people  out  of  em- 
ployment, but  twenty-seven  years  later  a  Parliament- 
ary inquiry  showed  that  the  number  of  persons  en- 
gaged in  this  industry  had  risen  to  320,000.'  In  like 
manner,  the  inventions  which  substituted  machinery 
for  hand  labor  in  the  making  of  stockings  created  a 
great  industrial  disturbance  in  England  which  resulted 
in  serious  riots.  But  for  every  one  who  lost  work  by 
this  change  doubtless  a  hundred  have  found  it  with 
shorter  hours  and  much  better  wages.2  Still,  we  are 
told  that  "from  the  hunger  and  misery  entailed  by 
this  series  of  events  the  larger  portion  of  fifty  thousand 
English  stocking-knitters  and  their  families  did  not 
fully  emerge  during  the  next  forty  years."  * 

1  D.  A?  Wells'  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  368. 
a  Ibid.  p.  367,  'Ibid.      . 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  143 

The  progress  of  invention,  by  causing  a  continual 
"dropping"  of  men,  produces  among  operatives  a 
feeling  of  insecurity  which  ministers  to  discontent. 
Every  one  knows  he  is  liable  to  learn  any  day  that  his 
strength  or  technical  skill  has  been  made  useless  by  a 
new  machine.  Moreover,  the  introduction  of  machinery 
and  the  division  of  labor  have  rendered  much  work  irk- 
some by  making  it  mechanical  and  monotonous. 

Thus  the  various  steps  which  have  attended  the  great 
revolution  in  the  world's  methods  of  production  have 
occasioned  much  discontent  and  not  a  little  distress. 
The  changes  which  have  more  recently  taken  place  in 
the  world's  methods  of  distribution  have  been  equally 
great  and  equally  productive  of  far-reaching  results. 

Before  the  development  of  modern  commercial  facili- 
ties, each  nation  was  as  nearly  as  it  could  be  a  little 
world  of  its  own,  supplying  most  of  its  needs  from  its 
own  resources,  aiming  to  be  as  independent  of  all  other 
nations  as  possible.  Indeed,  a  century  ago  the  sale  of 
food  from  one  country  to  another  was  generally  pro- 
hibited. It  is  not  very  many  years  since  England  fed 
herself.  Now  we  are  told l  that  eight  hundred  articles 
of  foreign  food  are  sold  in  Brighton,  and  that,  not  in- 
cluding spirits  and  wines,  England  imports  food  to  the 
value  of  £185,000,000  per  year. 

The  steam-ship  and  the  railway  are  making  the  world 
one  country.  "  Produce  is  now  carried  from  Australia 
to  England,  a  distance  of  eleven  thousand  miles,  in  less 
time  and  at  less  cost  than  was  required  a  hundred  years 
ago  to  convey  goods  from  one  extremity  of  the  British 
Islands  to  the  other."2  The  construction  of  our  trans- 
continental railways  soon  after  the  civil  war,  the  pro- 
jection of  great  railway  systems  in  Russia  and  Central 
Europe  (1867-73),  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  (1869), 
and  later  the  invention  of  the  compound  marine  engine, 
within  a  few  years1  time,  made  all  civilized  peoples 


ni/nzine,  Sept.  1892. 
»  D.  A..  Wells'  Keceut  Economic  Changes,  p.  400. 


144  THE  NEW  EEA. 

near  neighbors.  It  was  impossible  thus  to  bring  na- 
tions, formerly  far  separated,  into  new  and  close  rela- 
tions without  profound  industrial  disturbances  and  far- 
reaching  economic  consequences. 

One  result  was  that  in  our  great  West  a  territory 
larger  than  that  of  the  thirteen  original  states  was  set- 
tled in  half  a  dozen  years,  thus  making  a  vast  addition 
to  the  world's  agricultural  products,  and  bringing  the 
cheap  lands  of  the  West  into  damaging  competition 
not  only  with  New  England,  but  with  Old  England 
and  Continental  Europe  as  well.  A  leading  farmer  of 
Devonshire  testified  before  the  British  commission  in 
1886:  "  I  have  calculated  that  the  produce  of  five  acres 
of  wheat  can  be  brought  from  Chicago  to  Liverpool 
at  less  than  the  cost  of  manuring  one  acre  for  wheat 
in  England."  This  fact  has  sent  thousands  of  farm- 
laborers  into  English  cities,  there  to  lower  wages  bv 
competing  for  work.  "  Indian  corn  has  been  exten- 
sively raised  in  Italy.  But  Indian  corn  grown  in  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  a  thousand  miles  from  the  sea- 
board, has  been  transported  in  recent  years  to  Italy  and 
sold  in  her  markets  at  a  lower  cost  than  the  corn  of 
Lombardy  and  Venetia,  where  the  wages  of  the  agricul- 
turist are  not  one  third  of  the  wages  paid  in  the  United 
States  for  corresponding  labor.  And  one  not  surprising 
sequel  of  this  is  that  77,000  Italian  laborers  emigrated  to 
the  United  States  in  1885."  l  This  immigration  affects 
unfavorably  the  price  of  labor  here  and  so  ministers  to 
popular  discontent  in  this  country.  Thus  these  eco- 
nomic changes  consequent  upon  new  methods  of  distri- 
bution act  and  react  all  over  the  civilized  world. 

We  are  evidently  being  forced  into  something  larger 
than  national  life.  A  world-lite  is  becoming  apparent, 
as  yet  very  imperfect,  but  distinctly  real.  The  great 
movements  of  commerce  and  of  immigration  are  a  part 
of  that  life.  The  industrial  and  economic  disturbances 
of  the  past  twenty  years,  which  have  been  well-nigh  or 

1  D.  A.  Wells'  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  91. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  145 

quite  coextensive  with  civilization,  are  appropriately 
called  "growing  pains"  naturally  attendant  on  the 
process  by  which  the  nations  adjust  themselves  to 
closer  relations  and  new  conditions  in  the  world's  prog- 
ress. And  these  readjustments,  with  their  accompany- 
ing disturbances,  will  continue  to  recur  until  there  is  at 
length  effected  a  complete  co-ordination  of  the  world's 
industries,  which  will  enable  each  people  to  render  to 
mankind  the  greatest  service  of  which  they  are  capable, 
and  which  will  insure  to  all  the  largest  possible  returns 
for  their  service. 

This  co-ordination  of  industries  will  be  effected  slowly, 
of  course,  and  it  will  require  many  years  for  the 
nations  to  gain  the  full  consciousness  of  a  world-life. 
Popular  discontent,  therefore,  will  by  no  means  be  tem- 
porary ;  it  will  continue  as  long  as  these  disturbing 
causes  operate. 

But  let  us  look  more  closely  at  the  circumstances  of 
the  workingman.  He  finds  himself  belonging  to  a 
system  which,  as  we  saw  in  the  preceding  chapter,  is 
essentially  unchristian  because  essentially  selfish.  He 
finds  his  labor  rated  as  a  commodity  whose  price  is 
determined  solely  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
He  believes  that  under  the  existing  system  he  is  the 
victim  of  the  "iron  law"  of  Ricardo,  according  to 
which  wages  are  reduced  to  the  lowest  point  at  which 
the  laborer  can  sustain  life  and  reproduce  his  kind. 

Oftentimes  he  is  in  no  position  to  insist  on  a  fair  price 
for  his  work.  Few  are  the  workingmen  who  have  not 
been  forced  at  some  time  to  hunt  for  a  job ;  and  those 
who  are  getting  steady  work  know  that  there  are  many 
contingencies,  any  one  of  which  may  set  them  adrift 
any  day.  Few  except  workingmen  know  how  much 
that  means.  "I  have  watched  friends  of  mine,"  says 
Mr.  H.  M.  Hyndman,1  "who  have  had  to  go  round  week 
after  week,  month  after  month,  maybe,  seeking  for  a 
job.  Such  men  do  not  parade  their  griefs,  never,  or 

1  Quoted  by  Pres.  E.  B.  Andrews  in  The  Neiv  World,  June,  1892,  p.  207. 


146  THE  NEW  ERA. 

very  rarely,  ask  a  middle-class  man  for  help,  and  would 
utterly  scorn  to  beg.  Yet  as  a  highly  skilled  artisan 
said  to  me  only  a  few  days  ago,  '  I  would  almost  as  soon 
go  begging  bread  as  begging  work :  they  treat  you  as  if 
it  were  a  favor  you  asked.'  I  have  watched  such  men, 
I  say,  skilled  and  unskilled,  too,  and  the  mental  effect 
upon  them  of  these  long  periods  or  short  periods  of 
worklessness  is  more  depressing  than  I  can  describe. 
Let  a  man  have  been  never  so  thrifty,  if  he  has  a  wife 
and  children,  a  few  weeks  of  idleness  sweep  away  his 
savings;  then  he  begins  to  pawn  what  little  things  he 
has ;  later  he  gets  behind  with  his  rent.  His  more  for- 
tunate comrades  help  him, — this  is  invariable,  so  far  as 
I  have  seen,  among  all  classes  of  laborers ;  and  then,  if 
he  is  lucky,  he  gets  into  wrork  again;  if  not,  his  furni- 
ture goes  and  he  falls  into  dire  poverty.  All  the  time 
not  only  has  the  man  himself  been  suffering  and  losing 
heart,  but  his  wife  has  been  fretting  herself  to  death 
and  the  children  have  been  half -fed.  In  the  winter- 
time, when  the  uncertainty  of  getting  work  becomes,  in 
most  of  our  great  industrial  cities,  the  certainty  of  not 
getting  it  for  a  large  percentage  of  the  laboring  men 
and  women,  things  are  of  course  at  their  worst.  After 
having  vainly  trudged  from  workshop  to  workshop, 
from  factory  to  factory,  from  wharf  to  wharf,  after 
having  perhaps  fought  fiercely  but  unsuccessfully  for  a 
few  hours'  work  at  the  dock  gates,  the  man  returns 
home,  weary,  hungry,  half  dead,  and  ashamed  of  his 
growing  raggedness,  to  see  his  home  without  firing  or- 
food,  perhaps  to  go  to  bed  in  order  to  try  and  forget 
the  misery  around  him."  Surely,  as  Carlyle  somewhere 
says:  "A  man  willing  to  work  and  unable  to  find  work 
is  perhaps  the  saddest  sight  that  fortune's  inequality 
exhibits  under  the  sun."  The  workingman, 

"  Who  begs  a  brother  of  the  earth 
To  give  him  leave  to  toil,"  * 

would  only  too  gladly  accept  the  primeval  sentence, 

1  Burns. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  147 

"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,"  but  he 
seeks  in  vain  for  some  one  to  bless  him  with  this  curse. 

Call  a  man  in  such  a  strait  "free"  to  sell  his  labor  in 
••  open  market"  ?  He  is  not  free;  he  is  the  slave  of  a 
dire  necessity.  He  must  take  what  his  employer,  when 
he  finds  one,  is  pleased  to  offer,  however  unjust  the 
wage  may  be.  True,  competition  often  forces  the  em- 
ployer to  pay  the  lowest  possible  price  for  labor ;  but  is 
it  strange  that  workingmen  who  suffer  or  are  liable  to 
suffer  such  injustice  deem  the  system  which  inflicts  it 
unjust  and  unchristian  ? 

Again,  the  workingman  feels  that  he  is  not  sharing 
equitably  in  the  general  prosperity. 

The  spirit  of  American  civilization  is  eminently  pro- 
gressive. The  increase  of  our  population,  the  springing 
up  of  new  cities  and  the  growth  of  old  ones,  the  ex- 
tension of  our  railway  and  telegraph  systems,  the  in- 
crease of  our  agricultural,  manufacturing,  and  mining 
products,  the  development  of  our  natural  resources, 
the  accumulation  of  our  national  wealth, — all  these  are 
simply  enormous.  Such  are  the  progress  of  invention 
and  the  increase  of  knowledge,  and  such  is  the  rapidity 
with  which  important  changes  jostle  each  other,  that 
years  seem  like  generations. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  progress  the  workingman 
feels  that  he  is  practically  standing  still  or  worse.  He 
sees  many  belonging  to  other  classes  waxing  rich,  while 
he  is  perhaps  unable  to  support  his  family.1  If  he 
could  feed  and  fatten  himself  and  family  on  the  east 
wind  and  lay  by  all  his  wages,  it  would  take  a  lifetime 


1  "In  Mas<«achusetts,  where  statistics  of  labor  are  the  most  elaborate  pub- 
lished, the  average  workingman  is  unable  to  support  the  average  working- 
man's  family  In  18S3  the  average  expenses  of  workingmen's  families,  in 
that  state,  were  $754. 42,  while  the  earnings  of  workingmen  who  were  heads 
of  families  averaged  $558.68.  This  means  that  about  one  third  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  family  fell  on  the  wife  and  children.  I  am  not  aware  that  the 
condition  of  the  workingman  is  at  all  exceptional  in  Massachusetts.  Of 
males  engaged  in  the  industries  of  that  state  in  1875.  only  one  in  one  hun- 
dred owned  a  house."  See  the  author's  "  Our  Country,"  revised  edition,  pp. 
147  and  154. 


148  THE  NEW  ERA. 

to  save  as  much  as  many  business  and  professional  men 
make  in  a  single  year. 

His  wants  are  increasing  with  his  intelligence,  but 
there  is  no  corresponding  increase  of  his  means.  We 
hear  it  often  said  and  often  denied  that  while  the  rich 
are  growing  richer  the  poor  are  growing  poorer.  The 
poor  are  not  growing  poorer  in  the  sense  that  their 
wages  will  buy  less  of  the  necessaries  of  life  or  that 
they  are  rated  lower  on  the  tax  list,  but  it  is  true  in 
the  sense  that  there  is  a  greater  disparity  now  between 
the  workingman's  income  and  his  wants  than  ever  be- 
fore, and  that  is  the  only  sense  worth  considering  in 
this  connection. 

Authorities  do  not  agree  as  to  the  progress,  either 
relative  or  actual,  which  has  been  made  in  the  condition 
of  workingmen.  Mr.  Wells  thinks  one  cannot  resist 
the  conclusion  that  the  very  outcasts  of  England  are 
now  better  provided  for  than  were  multitudes  of  her 
common  laboring  men  only  forty  years  ago.1  And  Mr. 
Giffen  claims,  as  the  result  of  his  investigations  for 
Great  Britain,  that  "the  average  money-wages  of  the 
working  classes  of  the  community,  looking  at  them  in 
the  mass,  and'  comparing  the  mass  of  fifty  years  ago 
with  the  mass  at  the  present  time,  have  increased 
very  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent;"  "  while  Pres.  E.  B. 
Andrews  is  of  the  opinion  that  "in  many  respects  the 
toiling  masses  are  no  whit  better  off  to-day  than  in 
England  four  centuries  ago,"  and  believes  that  "the 
passing  of  this  age  of  industrial  advance  and  of  world- 
wide land  utilization  with  so  slight  gain  in  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life  on  the  part  of  the  laboring  man  goes 
far  to  preclude  all  hope  of  great  improvement  for  him 
under  present  economic  conditions."  3  And  Prof.  R.  T. 
Ely  and  Pres.  Seth  Low  say4:  "  When  we  compare  the 
actual  amount  of  wages  received  by  the  laboring 

1  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  402. 

2  Ibid.  p.  406. 

3  The  New  World,  June,  1892,  pp.  210,  212. 

«  "  Present-Day  Papers."     The  Century,  April,  1890,  p.  940. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  149 

classes  now  with  their  former  wages,  we  find  ourselves 
obliged  to  abandon  that  superficial  optimism  based  on 
an  imperfect  analysis  of  industrial  conditions.  There 
•rfeems  to  be  an  absolute  improvement,  but  can  we  cer- 
tainly say  that  this  has  been  relative  ? " 

Now  here  is  the  point  of  my  contention :  the  question 
whether  the  condition  of  the  workingman  has  materi- 
ally improved  in  this  century  is  stoutly  debated,  but 
the  question  whether  there  has  been  most  wonderful 
material  progress  in  general  is  not  debatable;  no  one 
doubts  it.  Evidently,  then,  the  progress  of  the  working- 
man  is  not  proportionate  to  the  general  material  prog- 
ress. And  this  fact  gives  him  just  ground  for  com- 
plaint. 

Mr.  Griff  en  thinks  that  "  the  poor  have  had  almost  all 
the  benefit  of  the  great  material  advance  of  the  last 
fifty  years."  '  But  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  con- 
vince the  workingman  of  this  in  the  face  of  many  facts 
with  which  he  is  familiar.  He  knows,  for  instance,  that 
a  car-load  of  coal  can  be  mined,  made  ready  for  market, 
and  loaded  in  one  half  the  time  now  that  it  required 
ten  years  ago;  but  he  knows  that  the  miner's  wages 
have  not  been  doubled  in  ten  years.  He  knows  that  in 
cotton  factories  the  operative  produces  .  nearly  four 
times  as  much  as  he  did  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  while 
his  wages  have  been  increased  only  eighty  per  cent." 
He  knows  that  in  the  flouring  mill  one  man  now  does 
the  work  formerly  done  by  four,  but  he  does  not  receive 
the  wages  of  four.  A  woman  with  a  sewing-machine 
can  do  probably  six  times  as  much  work  as  could  a 
needlewoman  fifty  years  ago ;  but  the  seamstress  of  to- 
day does  not  receive  six  times  as  much  as  her  mother 


1  Quoted  by  Wells,  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  358. 

a  "  In  1880  the  Pacific  Mills  paid  a  dividend  of  twenty-two  per  cent  on  a 
capital  of  $2,500,000;  the  Middlesex  Mills,  twenty  per  cent.  And  those  very 
mills  which  were  paying  twenty-two  per  cent  dividends  were  paying  the 
munificent  wages  of  ninety  cents  a  day!  The  Williinantic  Linen  Company 
pay  the  same  liberal  wages,  and  one  year  declared  a  dividend  of  eighty  per 
cent! "  See  Meriwether,  Tbe  Tramp  at  Home,  p.  88. 


150  THE  NEW  ERA. 

did  or  work  only  one  sixth  as  many  hours.  She  works 
quite  as  hard  and  quite  as  long,  and  in  man;,  ^ases  for 
wages  quite  as  small.  In  the  manufacture  of  shoes  an 
operative  now  does  the  work  formerly  done  by  five  or 
six  or  even  ten;  and  in  the  manufacture  of  wall-paper 
the  workman's  effectiveness  has  been  increased  a  hun- 
dredfold. A  few  years  ago  a  skilled  workman  could 
make  up  three  dozen  pairs  of  sleeve-buttons  per  clay. 
Now  by  the  aid  of  the  most  improved  machinery  a  boy 
can  make  up  9000  pairs,  or  250  times  as  many.  The 
inventions  which  make  this  possible  have  neither  re- 
duced the  workman's  toil  nor  increased  his  wages. 
When  he  set  up  thirty-six  pairs  a  day,  he  received  two 
and  a  half  or  three  dollars  for  it.  Now  the  boy  who 
does  as  much  as  250  men  could  then  receives  less  than 
ninety  cents  for  it.  True,  improved  methods  and  ma- 
chinery have  both  reduced  prices  and  raised  wages,  but 
is  it  strange  if  many  believe  that  those  who  are  exploit- 
ing labor  get  the  greater  share  of  the  benefit  ? 

No  one  would  pretend  that  workingmeii  in  the  United 
States  are  twenty-five  per  cent  better  off  now  than 
they  were  ten  years  ago ;  and  yet  from  1880  to  1890  the 
average  wealth  of  American  families  rose  from  four 
thousand  dollars  to  five  thousand. 

In  view  of  the  fact  just  mentioned;  in  view  of  our 
marvellous  mechanical  progress,  which  enables  one  man 
now  to  do  as  much  as  four,  six,  ten,  and  in  some  in- 
stances even  a  hundred  men  or  more,  twenty  years  ago ; 
and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  intelligence  and  wants 
of  workingmen  have  increased  several  fold,  does  it  not 
seem  somewhat  puerile  to  urge  that  workingmen  have 
had  their  share  of  the  general  progress  because,  taking 
into  account  both  wages  and  prices,  they  have  made  "a 
gain  of  at  least  ten  per  cent  in  half  a  century  ? " 

The  real  question  is  not  whether  the  laborer  is  re<.  -iv- 
ing  larger  wages  than  formerly,  nor  even  whether  his 
increase  is  proportionate  to  the  general  increase  of 
wealth,  but  whether  he  is  receiving  his  just  dues.  It 
is  often  claimed  that  all  wealth  really  belongs  to  him 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  151 

I M 'cause  he  has  produced  it  all.  This  is  absurd.  Be- 
sides the  skill,  time,  and  strength  of  the  workman, 
several  other  factors  enter  into  the  cost  of  the  product, 
viz.,  the  material,  tools,  machinery,  and  perhaps  build- 
ing. Without  these  the  workman  can  do  nothing.  If 
he  furnishes  all  of  these  as  well  as  the  work,  then  the 
product  is  wholly  his.  If  capital  furnishes  a  part,  then 
a  part  of  the  product  belongs  to  capital.  Precisely  how 
much  is  the  fair  share  of  each  is  the  difficult  question. 
But  thus  much  is  clear:  capital  and  labor  together  pro- 
duce sufficient  wealth  every  year,  in  this  country,  to 
lift  laborer  as  well  as  capitalist  above  want  for  a  year. 
Over  and  above  all  expenditure  and  all  waste,  our 
average  annual  increase  of  wealth  from  1880  to  1890  was 
$1,781,700,000.  If  then  the  industrious  and  economical 
laborer  has  not  been  lifted  above  want,  he  evidently  has 
not  had  his  due  share,  and  ought  not  to  be  satisfied 
until  justice  is  done  him. 

Workingmen  will  not  deny  that  different  services 
have  different  values.  But  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
capital  is  as  helpless  without  labor  as  labor  is  without 
capital,  that  both  are  alike  necessary  to  society,  it  is 
difficult,  and  becoming  increasingly  so  as  workingmen 
grow  more  intelligent,  to  convince  them  that  there  is 
any  justice  in  so  wide  a  disparity  as  exists  between 
their  condition  and  that  of  capitalists.  The  limits  of 
such  a  work  as  this  permit  us  to  note  but  few  of  the 
many  lights  and  shadows  which  mark  the  strong  con- 
trasts of  the  social  picture. 

Mr.  Thomas  G.  Shearman,  in  an  article1  which  has 
attracted  much  attention,  but  whose  force  I  think  has 
not  been  materially  impaired  by  criticism,  says  that 
"the  average  annual  income  of  the  richest  hundred 
Americans  cannot  be  less  than  $1,200,000,  and  probably 
exceeds  $1,500,000." 

If  100  workingmen  could  earn  each  $1000  a  year,  they 
would  have  to  work  1200  or  1500  years  to  earn  as  much 

1  The  Forum,  Nov.  1889. 


152  THE  NEW  ERA. 

as  the  annual  income  of  these  100  richest  Americans. 
And  if  a  workingman  could  earn  $1000  a  day  he  would 
have  to  work  until  he  was  547  years  old,  and  never  take 
a  day  off,  before  he  could  earn  as  much  as  some  Ameri- 
cans are  worth. 

Mr.  Shearman,  after  having  given  good  reasons  for  the 
opinion,  says:  "It  may  safely  be  assumed  that  200,000 
persons  control  70  per  cent  of  the  national  wealth." 
That  is,  three  tenths  of  one  per  cent  of  the  population 
control  70  per  cent  of  the  property.  In  other  words,  in 
the  distribution  of  the  national  wealth,  one  man  in  three 
hundred  receives  $70  out  of  every  $100,  and  299  men 
receive  $30,  which  if  averaged  would  give  them  about 
ten  cents  each. 

The  wealth  of  Croesus  was  estimated  at  only  $8,000,- 
000,  while  there  are  seventy  American  estates,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Shearman,  which  average  $35,000,000  each. 
The  nabobs  of  the  later  Roman  republic  became  famous 
for  their  immense  fortunes,  but  the  entire  possessions 
of  the  richest  were  not  equal  to  the  annual  income  of 
at  least  one  American.  In  anticipation  of  the  coming 
"billionaire,  "Mr.  Shearman  says :'  "  Several  non-specu- 
lative estates  have  increased  fivefold  in  less  than  forty 
years.  Interest  is  now  very  low;  but,  adding  to  in- 
terest the  steady  increment  of  city  lands,  an  addition 
of  at  least  four  per  cent  per  annum,  at  compound  in- 
terest, may  be  counted  upon  for  these  great  estates. 
At  that  rate  a  present  fortune  of  $200,000,000  would  be- 
come a  billion  ($1,000,000,000)  in  less  than  forty  years. 
Financial  conditions  remaining  unchanged,  the  Ameri- 
can billionaire  might  reasonably  be  looked  for  within 
that  time,  and  several  billionaires  might  be  expected 
within  sixty  years." 

Many  rich  men  render  services  of  very  exceptional 
value  to  society  by  means  of  their  exceptional  execu- 
tive abilities,  which  services  deserve  a  high  reward; 
but  there  is  a  growing  class  of  idle  rich,  whose  only 

1  The  Forum,  Jan.  1891,  p.  548. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  153 

business  is  their  own  amusement,  and  who,  though 
"  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,"  yet  rank  Solomon 
himself  in  luxury. 

In  sharp  and  instructive  contrast  are  the  many  who 
toil  longer  and  harder  than  beasts  of  burden  and  fare 
worse.  A  man  sixty  years  old,  once  prosperous,  but 
caught  in  the  financial  crash  of  1873,  worked  seventeen 
hours  every  day  on  a  street  railway.  He  "had  a  Sunj 
day  off  eighteen  months  ago,  and  hoped  he  might  get 
another  in  the  course  of  five  or  six  months  more."  The 
horses  on  that  road  work  four  hours  and  rest  twenty. 
The  standard  of  the  London  cab  horse,  which  General 
Booth  pleads  for  the  English  poor,  might  not  be  amiss  in 
this  country. 

It  is  said  the  Durham  miners  sometimes  have  to 
"hew  coal  in  seams  1  ft.  10  in.  to  2  ft.  thick,  lying  for 
hours  on  their  side,  all  but  naked,  in  some  inches  of 
water,  and  under  a  sort  of  shower-bath  from  the  roof, 
picking  and  shovelling  as  best  they  can.  That  not  being 
the  sort  of  place  to  take  a  lunch  or  dinner  in,  they 
work  on,  taking  only  a  sup  of  cold  tea  or  a  bit  of  bread 
and  butter,  till  time  to  leave  the  pit."  "That  men 
who  rise  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  do  such 
work  are  '  queer  in  the  legs '  from  early  manhood,  and 
broken  down  at  fifty,  is  not  strange ; "  '  nor  is  it  strange 
that  80,000  of  these  miners,  in  the  spring  of  1892,  should 
strike  against  a  reduction  of  7i  per  cent  in  their  scanty 
wages. 

"We  read  about  women  who  make  twelve  shirts 
for  seventy -five  cents,  and  furnish  their  own  thread, 
in  Chicago;  about  women  that  finish  off  an  elegant 
cloak  for  four  cents;  about  children  that  work  twelve 
hours  a  day  for  a  dollar  a  week;  about  some  women 
who  are  glad  to  get  the  chance  that  offers  six  cents  for 
four  hours'  work." "  We  are  assured  on  what  seems  to 
be  good  authority  that  the  "sweating"  system  is  forc- 
ing men  and  women  to  work  sometimes  for  thirty- 

1  The  Christian  Union,  June  11, 1898.  »  Frances  E.  Willard. 


154  THE  NEW  ERA. 

three,  and  even  thirty-six,  consecutive  hours  to  avoid 
starvation. 

"  Alas  that  gold  should  be  so  dear, 
And  flesh  and  blood  so  cheap 1 " 

The  Eev.  L.  A.  Banks  has  introduced  us  to  the  white 
slaves  of  the  Boston  "  sweat-shops."  Some  of  these 
women  earn  sixty  cents  by  sewing  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen hours  a  day.  One  woman  makes  cheap  overcoats 
at  four  cents  apiece  ;  another,  knee  "pants"  for  boys 
at  sixteen  cents  a  dozen  pairs.  Another  by  working 
very  late  at  night  earns  sometimes  as  much  as  fifty -two 
cents  a  day,  and  thinks  it  would  be  "  almost  a  Paradise 
if  she  could  make  fifty-two  cents  every  day."  One 
poor  girl,  who  was  compelled  to  make  a  dozen  pairs  of 
overalls  a  day,  said  that  when  she  was  in  the  House 
of  Correction  she  had  to  finish  only  eight  pairs  a  day, 
and  had  comfortable  lodgings  and  good  food  besides. 
"  She  had  sometimes  asked  herself  whether  it  would  not 
be  better  to  commit  some  crime  and  be  incarcerated 
where  life  would  be  far  more  endurable  than  in  the 
close  and  noisome  tenement." ' 

In  this  same  city  there  is  a  fruit  market  "which  has 
existed  for  thirty  years  upon  the  whims  of  the  rich. 
Hamburg  grapes  at  ten  dollars  a  pound  are  regularly  in 
stock.  In  winter,  strawberries  and  asparagus  sell 
easily  at  three  dollars  a  box  or  a  bunch.  When  the 
first  Florida  berries  come,  thirteen  in  a  cup,  at  four  dol- 
lars a  cup,  parties  are  supplied.  One  hundred  and 
twenty -five  dollars'  worth  of  fruit  to  a  single  order 
causes  the  dealer  no  surprise."  2 

In  New  York  City,  where,  according  to  The  New  York 
Tribune,  there  are  1103  millionaires,  "worth  from  one 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions"  each,  more  than  two 
thirds  of  the  population  live  in  tenement-houses.  Of 
course  many  of  these  houses  afford  very  comfortable 


1 W.  P.  Adams,  Christian  Union,  Aug.  1, 1891. 
8  Elizabeth  Stuart  Pbelps,  Forum,  May,  1889. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  155 

quarters,  but  others  would  be  unfit  for  stables.  Several 
years  ago  2000  of  these  tenements  were  reported  in  the 
official  statistics  as  "very  bad."  "Recent  certified 
revelations,"  says  Bishop  Huntington,  "have  laid  bare 
the  multiplied  horrors  and  depravities  of  the  tenement 
population  in  great  cities,  where  forty -one  out  of  every 
hundred  families  live  each  in  a  single  room,  and  where 
the  poorest  pay  more  rent  than  the  richest  for  each 
cubic  foot  of  space  and  air."  ' 

Sometimes  forty -five  people  sleep  in  one  room.  And 
even  these  wretched  lodgings  are  insecure  to  their  more 
wretched  occupants.  During  the  winter  months  of  a 
recent  year,  in  three  judicial  districts  of  New  York  City 
over  21,000  men,  women,  and  children  were  evicted 
because  unable  to  pay  their  rent;  and  in  the  course  of 
the  year  23,895  families,  not  less  than  119,000  persons, 
suffered  the  loss  of  their  homes  in  like  manner.2  The 
story  of  one  of  these  victims  is  briefly  told  in  a  news- 
paper item:  "Mrs.  Clara  Kloin  was  evicted  on  Satur- 
day; turned  out  in  the  cold  rain  (in  February)  with  a 
baby  only  a  few  weeks  old,  because  she  was  unable  to 
raise  the  paltry  rent.  She  walked  about  all  day  Satur- 
day seeking  a  lodging.  The  baby  died  on  Washington's 
birthday,  and  the  mother  is  likely  to  die."  In  this 
same  city  we  read  of  a  ten-thousand-dollar  banquet  and 
of  3819  dead  who  in  a  single  year  are  thrown  into  the 
Potter's  field,  too  poor  either  to  live  or  die  decently. 
We  also  read  that  the  other  night,  while  a  ball  costing 
$50,000  was  in  progress  at  Delmonico's,  out  on  the  curb- 
stone there  shivered  a  woman  with  a  babe  in  her  arms. 
A  passer-by  saw  her  crying,  and  spoke  with  her.  She 
said  the  little  one  was  sick.  He  looked  at  the  child  and 
saw  that  it  had  been  dead  for  some  hours.  It  had 
starved  and  frozen  to  death. 

In  Scotland  official  figures  (1870)  show  that  "one 
third  of  the  families  live  in  a  single  room,  and  more 

1  The  Forum,  Oct.  1890. 

»  The  Arena,  April,  1891,  p.  684. 


156  THE  NEW  ERA. 

than  another  third  in  only  two  rooms," '  while  the 
hunting-grounds  of  an  American  millionaire  extend 
across  the  Highlands  from  sea  to  sea.  The  remarkable 
and  most  valuable  analysis  of  the  population  of  London 
made  by  Mr.  Charles  Booth2  shows  that  there  are  in 
that  city  938,293  "poor,"  316,834  "very  poor,"  and  37,610 
of  the  lowest — a  total  of  1,292,737,  or  about  thirty  per 
cent  of  the  entire  population  living  in  poverty. 

Doubtless  much  poverty  is  due  to  drunkenness,  and 
again  much  drunkenness  is  due  to  poverty.  It  would 
appear  from  Mr.  Booth's  investigations  in  East  London 
that  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  very  poor  and  fully  sixty- 
eight  per  cent  of  the  other  poor  are  so  not  through  any 
fault  of  their  own,  but  because  they  lack  employment, 
while  only  an  insignificant  proportion  are  loafers.  It  is 
estimated  that  the  suffering  of  fifty-three  ,per  cent  of 
the  needy  in  New  York  is  for  lack  of  work.8 

Wealth  is  often  a  well-earned  reward  and  poverty  is 
sometimes  a  well-deserved  penalty,  but  they  are  becom- 
ing more  and  more  in  this  country  a  matter  of  inherit- 
ance— a  distinction  which  finds  no  shadow  of  justifica- 
tion in  the  character  of  those  whose  circumstances 
point  so  strong  a  contrast. 

Our  discussion  thus  far  has  related  more  especially  to 
the  artisan  class ;  some  attention  must  be  given  to  the 
complaint  of  the  farmer. 

In  many  parts  of  the  United  States  there  has  been  a 
notable  decline  in  the  value  of  agricultural  lands. 
Many  farms  in  New  England  can  be  bought  for  less 
than  the  cost  of  the  buildings  and  walls  on  them. 
There  is  excellent  land  in  the  heart  of  Massachusetts 
whose  market  value  has  depreciated  one  half  iu  sixty 
years.  Governor  Foraker  said  in  1887  that  farm  prop- 
erty in  Ohio  was  then  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  per 
cent  cheaper  than  it  was  in  1880.  During  the  same 


1  Henry  George  in  "  Twilight  Club  Tracts,"  p.  37. 

2  Life  and  Labor  of  the  People. 

3  Pres.  E.  B.  Andrews,  The  New  Wf»-irl,  June,  1892,  p.  807. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  157 

interval  the  value  of  agricultural  land  in  the  ten  cotton 
states  declined  $459,000,000,  or  thirty -one  per  cent.1 

There  were  25,354,714  more  acres  cultivated  in  this 
country  in  1888  than  in  1880,  and  the  total  cereal  produc- 
tions were  491,548,499  bushels  greater;  but  for  their 
increased  toil  and  larger  crops  in  1888  the  farmers  re- 
ceived $41,242,306  less  than  in  1880. a 

There  has  been  a  like  depression  of  agriculture  in 
Europe.  Though  the  wealth  of  Great  Britain  has  more 
than  doubled  since  1840,  there  has  been  since  then  a  de- 
cline of  £138,^00,000  in  the  value  of  lands.8  In  eleven 
years  the  amount  of  land  under  cultivation  decreased 
considerably  more  than  a  million  acres.  "  In  France," 
we  are  told,  "the  peasant  proprietors  have  ceased  to 
buy  land  and  are  anxious  to  sell  it ;  and  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Aisne,  one  of  the  richest  in  France,  one  tenth  of 
the  land  is  abandoned,  because  it  is  found  that,  at  pres- 
ent prices,  the  sale  of  produce  does  not  cover  the 
expenses  of  cultivation."4  Germany,  Austria,  Spain, 
and  Portugal  afford  no  exception  to  the  general  rule; 
while  in  Russia  the  army  of  beggars  includes  in  its 
ranks  tens  of  thousands  of  landowners,  some  80,000  of 
whom  have  surrendered  their  land,  finding  the  costs 
of  ownership  greater  than  the  profits  of  cultivation.5 

This  general  depression  of  agriculture  is  due  to  the 
radical  changes  in  the  methods  of  production  and  dis- 
tribution which  have  taken  place  especially  during  the 
last  third  of  a  century.  The  disturbances  and  conse- 
quent discontent  in  the  industrial  world  which  resulted 
from  invention  appeared  much  earlier  among  artisans 
than  among  farmers,  because  machinery  was  applied  to 
manufactures  much  earlier  than  to  agriculture.  Our 


1  Report  of  a  committee  of  citizens  of.  the  ten  cotton-growing  states  "On 
tbe  Causes  of  the  Depressed  Condition  of  Agriculture,  and  the  Remedies," 
1887.  Quoted  by  D.  A.  Wells. 

a  United  States  Statistical  Abstract  No.  13,  1890,  p.  320. 

*  D.  A.  Wells'  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  423. 

4  Ibid,  p:  877. 

«  Correspondence  London  Economist,  1887.    Quoted  by  D.  A.  Wells. 


158  THE  NEW  ERA. 

civil  war,  which  took  so  many  men  from  the  farms, 
greatly  stimulated  the  invention  and  introduction  of 
agricultural  machinery.  Then,  following  close  on  the 
war,  came  the  great  changes  in  the  method  of  distribu- 
tion— the  transcontinental  railways,  which  opened  up 
a  vast  territory  to  settlement  and  cultivation ;  and  the 
compound  marine  engine,  which  brought  our  western 
products  into  most  damaging  competition  with  the 
agriculture  of  Europe.  And  of  course  the  Middle  States 
and  New  England  farmers  also  suffered  from  the  same 
competition. 

One  might  suppose  that  with  the  European  and  Amer- 
ican markets  delivered  over  to  them  the  western 
farmers  might  have  flourished  beyond  all  precedent; 
but  they  complain  that  all  profits  and  in  many  cases 
even  their  farms  have  been  eaten  up  by  interest,  the 
railways,  and  the  middlemen. 

During  the  era  of  rapid  settlement  after  the  war,  the 
farmers  borrowed  vast  sums  of  money,  often  at  exorbi- 
tant rates  of  interest,  to  enable  them  to  improve  their 
land  and  to  buy  machinery  which  had  now  become  a 
necessity,  while  the  planters  of  the  cotton  states  prob- 
ably became  more  generally  and  more  deeply  involved 
than  the  farmers;  the  fall  in  the  prices  of  produce 
practically  increased  their  indebtedness;  the  railways, 
at  whose  mercy  the  farmers  were,  charged  "all  that 
the  traffic  would  bear,"  and  a  swarm  of  middlemen 
left  for  the  producers  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  prices 
paid  by  the  consumers.  Thus,  notwithstanding  the 
Mississippi  valley  has  become  the  granary  of  the  world, 
its  farmers  and  planters  have  become  painfully  embar- 
rassed, and  many  of  them  through  mortgages  have 
suffered  "the  loss  of  everything.  Investigations  of  the 
last  census,  made  in  ten  counties  in  Kansas,  showed 
that  less  than  twenty-four  per  cent  of  the  farmers  held 
their  farms  unincumbered.1 

The  deep  discontent  of  the  farmers  will  be  by  no 

1  Extra  Census  Bulletin  No.  18. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  159 

means  temporary,  since  it  has  been  produced  by  causes 
which  will  continue  operative  for  years  to  come.  The 
changes  in  the  methods  of  production  are  not  yet  com- 
plete. Mr.  D.  A.  Wells  says  that  it  is  coming  to  be  the 
opinion  of  many  of  the  best  authorities,  both  in  the 
United  States  and  Europe,  that  the  only  possible  future 
for  agriculture  is  to  be  found  in  large  farms,  worked 
with  ample  capital,  especially  in  the  form  of  machinery 
and  with  labor  organized  somewhat  after  the  factory 
system.1  Moreover,  though  most  of  the  public  agricul- 
tural lands  are  taken,  less  than  one  fifth  of  our  arable 
land  is  under  actual  cultivation.  So  far  as  agriculture 
is  concerned,  therefore,  the  greater  part  of  our  territory 
is  practically  unoccupied.  Furthermore,  according  to 
Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  we  could  double  our  produce 
without  putting  another  acre  under  the  plough,  "by 
merely  bringing  our  product  up  to  our  average  standard 
of  reasonably  good  agriculture."  All  of  which  means 
that  our  farm  products  are  capable  of  being  increased 
some  tenfold. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  causes  which  have  produced 
the  discontent  of  the  farmers — the  changed  methods  of 
production,  the  great  increase  of  agricultural  products, 
the  existence  of  mortgages,  and  the  exactions  of  rail- 
ways and  middlemen — are  all  likely  to  continue  for 
some  time  to  come. 

No  doubt  the  condition  of  the  farmer  and  of  the 
workingman  will  improve  in  the  future,  but  as  im- 
provement of  condition  has  been  accompanied  by 
increasing  discontent  during  the  past  century,  we  can- 
not infer  that  future  improvement,  under  the  existing 
organization  of  society,  will  allay  discontent. 

Second.  Having  examined  the  causes  of  popular 
discontent,  we  are  now  prepared  to  consider  very 
briefly  its  significance. 

This  is  not  the  first  age  of  the  world  when  there  has 
IK -en  a  widespread  discontent,  but  it  means  more  in 

•,        '  Recent  Economic  Changes,  pp.  461,  462. 


1GO  THE  NEW  ERA. 

this  age  than  it  ever  meant  before,  because  there  is 
greater  popular  intelligence*  An  intelligent  discontent 
will  not  suffer  in  dumb  despair ;  it  has  resources,  means 
of  expressing  itself  and  of  enforcing  its  demands.  It 
can  agitate,  and  educate  public  opinion.  It  knows 
enough  of  the  progress  of  the  world  in  the  past  to  hope 
for  the  future,  and  it  is  easy  for  hope  to  purpose  and 
achieve. 

Again,  popular  discontent  means  more  in  this  age 
than  ever  before,  because  it  appeals  to  more  tender 
sensibilities.  There  have  been  greater  miseries  in  other 
ages,  but  in  this  day  those  who  suffer  are  not  paralyzed 
by  despair,  and  those  who  witness  suffering  are  not 
frozen  with  indifference.  Conditions  which  a  few  cen- 
turies since  were  taken  for  granted  and  caused  no 
comment  now  excite  indignation  and  horror.  Once 
men  were  insensible  to  the  sufferings  of  strangers ;  now 
a  calamity  by  fire  or  flood  or  pestilence  or  famine 
brings  quick  relief  from  distant  parts  of  the  world. 
Once  gentlefolk  found  amusement  in  sights  of  blood 
and  horror  and  death  ;  now  cruelty  even  to  animals  is 
a  crime.  Once  human  suffering  was  a  matter  of  course, 
and  the  misery  of  the  many  was  deemed  the  will  of 
God;  to-day  all  suffering  is  seen  to  imply  something 
abnormal,  and  all  agree  that  if  possible  its  cause  must 
be  removed. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  illustration  of  the  change 
in  the  world's  sensibilities  than  that  which  is  afforded 
by  the  punishment  of  criminals  now  and  a  few  cen- 
turies ago.  Once  the  death  penalty  was  inflicted  by 
slowly  immersing  the  victim  in  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil. 
Harrison,  the  regicide,  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  then 
revived,  maimed,  drawn,  and  hanged  again:  and  this 
torture,  remember,  was  judicial,  inflicted  by  the  highest 
court  of  the  most  Christian  nation  in  the  world.  Now, 
public  opinion  insists  that  the  death  penalty,  when 
inflicted,  be  as  nearly  painless  and  instantaneous  as 
possible.  As  the  world's  nerves  are  refined,  suffering 
of  every  sort  becomes  more  and  more  intolerable. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  161 

Moreover,  as  society  becomes  more  highly  organized 
and  intimate  relations  are  multiplied,  it  is  becoming 
more  and  more  true  that  its  different  classes  are  mem- 
bers one  of  another,  and  when  one  member  suffers  all 
the  members  suffer  with  it.  One  class  cannot  remain 
indifferent  to  the  wrongs  of  another. 

Again,  the  discontent  of  the  people  is  more  significant 
now  than  ever  before,  because  now  the  people  rule. 
When  they  were  slaves,  crushed  under  law,  custom, 
institutions,  and  all  the  rigid  strata  of  the  social  struct- 
ure, their  discontent  signified  little  until  it  gathered  the 
might  of  an  earthquake  sufficient  to  shatter  society 
with  its  upheaval.  Now,  numbers  possess  the  power 
and  can  exercise  it  through  the  established  channels 
of  the  law.  What  king  or  emperor  or  aristocracy  may 
think  or  propose  is  to  us  of  no  consequence,  but  what 
the  masses  think  or  propose  is  of  utmost  consequence, 
for  they  are  to  determine  the  future  of  civilization. 
The  rich  and  powerful  are  naturally  conservative.  It  is 
of  course  those  who  are  discontented  with  their  lot  who 
want  a  change;  hence  it  is  that  new  ideas,  whether 
political  or  religious,  generally  gain  currency  first 
among  the  poor.  Evidently,  popular  discontent  has 
profound  significance.  What  is  that  significance  ? 

It  is  as  true  of  society  as  of  the  individual,  that 
self -dissatisfaction  is  a  sign  of  upward,  not  downward, 
movement.  Popular  contentment  marks  a  stagnant 
civilization — China;  popular  restlessness  marks  a  pro 
gressive  civilization — Japan.  New  wants  are  rungs  in 
the  ladder  of  progress ;  and  civilization,  reaching  up  to 
them,  mounts  to  something  higher. 

The  discontent  of  the  masses  means  that  they  feel 
the  pulsations  of  a  new  life,  born  of  increased  intelli- 
gence. As  we  have  seen,  to  add  to  a  man's  knowledge 
is  to  enlarge  his  horizon,  to  make  him  conscious  of  new 
wants,  and  to  show  him  new  possibilities.  The  popular 
ferment  of  to-day  means  a  struggle  to  realize  the  possi- 
bilities of  a  new  and  larger  life. 

Twice  before  in  modern  times  has  there  been  a  deep 


162  THE  NEW  ERA. 

and  widespread  discontent  among  the  people— once  on 
the  eve  of  the  great  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury and  once  on  the  eve  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Certain  conditions  which  appeared  just  before  the 
former  reappeared  just  before  the  latter.  It  is  most 
significant  that  these  same  conditions,  among  the  most 
important  of  which  is  popular  discontent,  have  again 
reappeared.1 

The  first  of  these  great  movements  was  primarily 
religious,  the  second  was  political,  the  third  will  be 
social  and  economic.  The  first  destroyed  spiritual 
despotism ;  the  second  struck  the  deathblow  of  political 
despotism;  is  it  not  quite  possible  that  the  third  will 
put  an  end  to  economic  despotism  ? 

It  was  shown  in  the  first  chapter  that  the  great 
changes  of  the  nineteenth  century  have  been  begin- 
nings rather  than  endings,  and  that  they  have  prepared 
the  way  for  still  greater  probable  changes  in  the  twenti- 
eth century.  We  have  seen  that  popular  discontent  is 
deep-seated  and  widespread,  that  it  is  not  likely  to  be 
temporary,  that  it  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less 
than  most  important  and  far-reaching  economic  and 
social  changes,  and  that  the  restless  masses  are  the 
power  which  will  determine  our  future. 

Does  it  not  look  as  if  there  were  about  to  be  a  new 
evolution  of  civilization  ?  If  this  evolution  is  to  bring 
the  solution  of  our  great  sociological  problems,  it  must 
be  along  Christian  lines.  Men  are  unconsciously  seek- 
ing to  harmonize  in  modern  society  the  two  great  prin- 
ciples of  individualism  and  organization,  and  so  to 
readjust  our  social  and  economic  relations  as  to  co-ordi- 
nate these  two  seemingly  conflicting  principles.  It  was 
shown  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  this  must  be  done 
by  the  application  of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  Surely, 
if  the  new  era  is  to  mark  an  advance  in  the  coming  of 


1  See  a  valuable  article,  "  A  Third  Revolution,"  by  Edward  P.  Cheyney,  in 
Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  May, 
1892.  He  points  out  no  less  tban  five  conditions  which  have  thus  reappeared. 


POPULAR  DISCONTENT.  163 

the  Kingdom,  the  multitude  that  is  being  quickened 
with  a  new  life  and  is  to  fashion  our  unfolding  civiliza- 
.tion  must  be  brought  under  the  power  of  Christian 
truth. 

Oh  that  men  of  God  everywhere  might  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  seeing,  seize  the  priceless  oppor- 
tunity of  the  hour ! 

"...  Suppose 

Mount  Athos  carved  as  Persian  Xerxes  schemed, 
To  some  colossal  statue  of  a  man. 

The  peasant,  gathering  brushwood  in  the  ear, 
Had  guessed  as  little  of  any  human  form 
Up  there,  as  would  a  flock  of  browsing  goats. 

.  .  .  'Tis  even  thus 

With  times  we  live  in,  evermore  too  great 
To  be  apprehended  near."  l 

The  Great  Teacher  pronounced  a  blessing  on  the  eyes 
that  see.9 

1  Mrs.  Browning's  "Aurora  Leigh."  3  Matt.  xiil.  i6. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  PROBLEM  OP  THE  COUNTRY. 

VAST  movements  of  population  are  of  profound  sig- 
nificance both  in  their  causes  and  effects.  While  we 
hear  much  of  the  millions  of  aliens  who  are  flooding 
our  shores  and  foreignizing  our  cities,  but  little  is  said 
of  a  movement  hardly  less  momentous,  whose  conse- 
quences, though  not  so  obvious,  are  perhaps  equally 
far-reaching.  I  refer  to  the  tide  of  population  which  is 
setting  so  strongly  from  country  to  city,  and  which  is 
depleting  the  one  and  congesting  the  other,  to  the  det- 
riment of  both. 

The  following  table  shows  this  movement  of  popula- 
tion for  one  hundred  years : 


Census  Years. 

Population 
of  the 
United  States. 

Population 
of  Cities. 

Per  cent  of 
Urban  Popu- 
lation. 

Per  cent  of 
Rural  Popu- 
lation. 

1790 

3,929,214 

131,472 

3.35 

96.65 

1800 

5,308,483 

210.873 

3.97 

96.03 

1810 

7,239,881 

&56.920 

4.93 

95.07 

1820 

9,633,823 

475.135 

4.93 

95.07 

1830 

12.866,020 

867.509 

6.72 

93.28 

1840 

17.069,453 

1,453,994 

8.52 

91.48 

1850 

23,191,876 

2.897,586 

12.49 

87.51 

1860 

31,443,321 

5,070,256 

16.13 

83.87 

1870 

38,558.371 

8.071.875 

20.93 

79.07 

1880 

50,155,783 

11,318,547 

22.57 

77.43 

1890 

62,622,250 

18,235,670 

29.12 

70.88 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  one  century  the  population  in 
cities  of  8000  or  more  has  risen  from  one  thirtieth  to 
nearly  one  third  of  the  whole,  the  rate  of  increase  b^ing 

164 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  165 

much  greater  from  1880  to  1890  than  ever  before.  Dur- 
ing these  ten  years  the  rural  population  increased  only 
fourteen  per  cent,  while  the  urban  increased  sixty -one. 

The  limit  at  which  the  government  draws  the  line 
between  rural  and  urban  populations  must  of  course  be 
arbitrary,  but  8000  would  seem  to  be  high.  The  con- 
ditions which  make  the  city  attractive  and  insure  its 
growth  exist  to  a  considerable  degree  in  towns  of  five 
or  six  thousand  inhabitants.  Hon.  William  M.  Springer 
is  of  the  opinion  that  "if  the  classification  should  em- 
brace cities  of  4000  inhabitants  and  upward,  it  would 
undoubtedly  appear  that  the  rural  population  had  de- 
creased during  the  decade."1  Certain  it  is  that,  with 
the  existing  high  limit,  there  are  seven  states  whose 
rural  population  was  smaller  in  1890  than  it  was  ten 
years  before.  While  the  cities  of  Maine,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Maryland,  and 
Illinois  gained  2,509,000  inhabitants,  the  rural  dis- 
tricts of  these  states  suffered  an  actual  loss  of  200,000; 
and,  excepting  the  South  and  the  new  states  of  the 
West,  the  increase  of  the  rural  population  was  insig- 
nificant as  compared  with  that  of  the  urban.  For  in- 
stance, in  Connecticut  the  former  was  12,000  and  the 
latter  111,000;  in  Ohio,  the  country  gained  60,000  and 
the  cities  414,000.  Twenty-eig'it  of  the  counties  of  that 
state  lost  population.  These  counties  are  chiefly  rural. 
On  the  Western  Reserve  sixty-six  townships  suffered 
a  loss  between  1870  and  1880,  and  124  lost  population 
1»( -twcen  1880  and  1890.  Often  the  county-seat  grows 
at  the  expense  of  every  rural  town  in  the  county,  and 
though  the  county  shows  a  gain,  it  may  be  that  every 
town  in  it  sav )  one  has  been  depleted.  This  movement 
is  closely  connected  with  the  depression  in  agriculture, 
discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Not  a  few  farmers, 
unable  to  sell  or  rent  their  farms,  have  abandoned  them 
altogether.  A  few  years  since,  the  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture  and  Immigration  of  New  Hampshire  re- 

'    >  Forum,  Dec.  1890,  p.  474. 


166  THE  NEW  ERA. 

ported  1442  vacant  or  abandoned  farms,  with  tenantable 
buildings,  in  that  state. 

In  1889  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Manu- 
facturing Interests  in  Vermont  issued  a  circular,  stating 
that  in  the  town  of  Reading  there  were  4000  acres  of 
land  offered  for  sale  at  one  or  two  dollars  per  acre. 
One  half  of  these,  he  says,  "are  lands  which  formerly 
comprised  good  farms,  but  with  buildings  now  gone, 
and  fast  growing  up  to  timber  ;  some  of  this  land  is 
used  for  pasturage,  and  on  other  portions  the  fences  are 
not  kept  up,  leaving  old  cellar-holes  and  miles  of  stone 
walls  to  testify  to  former  civilization."  In  the  town  of 
Vershire  "there  are  from  thirty-five  to  forty  farms, 
contiguous  or  nearly  so,  abandoned  and  unoccupied." 
In  the  town  of  Wilmington  there  were  5000  acres  in  the 
same  condition.1 

These  abandoned  farms  are  by  no  means  peculiar  to 
the  New  England  States.  A  correspondent  of  The  New 
York  Nation,  under  date  of  Nov.  23, 1889,  wrote:  "  In  the 
rural  districts  in  Wayne  County  (New  York)  there  are 
no  less  than  400  empty  houses.  The  town  of  Sodus 
alone  has  over  fifty  deserted  houses,  and  Huron  has 
thirty  or  more." 

In  Michigan  there  were  7419  fewer  farmers  in  1890 
than  in  1880,  though  the  population  had  meanwhile  in- 
creased 457,000." 

This  movement  of  population  from  country  to  city,  of 
which  abandoned  farms  are  the  sad  and  silent  witnesses 
in  many  states,  is  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the 
Eleventh  Census  with  the  Tenth  to  have  been  remark- 
ably general.  Eight  of  the  newer  states  and  terri- 
tories had  not  been  divided  into  townships  in  1880,  and 
therefore  do  not  afford  the  necessary  data  for  com- 
parison ;  but  an  examination  of  every  township  in  every 
other  state  and  territory  sh^ws  that  of  25,746  townships 
in  thirty -nine  states  and  territories  10,063,  or  39  per 


1  The  Nation,  No.  1266. 

2  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  for  Michigan,  1S92. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


1G7 


cent,   lost  population  during  the  ten  years  preceding 
1890. 

Of  the  1502  townships  in  New  England  932,  or  62  per 
cent,  were  more  or  less  depleted.  In  New  York  69.5 
per  cent  lost  population;  in  Ohio  58  per  cent;  in  In- 
diana 49  per  cent ;  in  Illinois  54  per  cent.  The  accom- 
panying table  shows  that  the  movement  was  common 
to  the  South  and  West  as  well  as  to  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States,  though  the  rural  districts  in  the  region 
of  large  cities  naturally  felt  their  attraction  most. 


Number  of 
Townships. 


Number  of 
Townships 
which  lost 
Population, 
1880-1890. 


Alabama 704 

Arizona    13 

Arkansas.... 895 

California 352 

Connecticut 153 

Delaware 32 

Florida 161 

Georgia 1,181 

Illinois 1,441 

Indiana 998 

Iowa 1,513 

Kansas  ... 1,047 

Kentucky 803 

Louisiana 402 

Maine 540 

Maryland  221 

M  assachusetts. ...  298 

Michigan ...  1,088 

Minnesota 1,297 

iMississippi 360 

Missouri 1,115 

Nebraska 526 

Nevada  18 

New  Hampshire 241 

New  Jersey . . . , 250 

New  York 922 

North  Carolina 863 

Ohio 1,331 

On-;,'.. ii 329 

Pennsylvania 2,075 

Rhode  Island 26 

South  Carolina 407 

Tennessee 1,392 

Texas 572 

Utah 211 

Vermont 244 

Virginia 424 

West  Virginia 324 

Wisconsin »  977 

Total   25,746 


244 
4 

185 

132 

79 

15 

44 

414 

792 

489 

686 

268 

293 

96 

348 

101 

154 

407 

271 

79 

324 

58 

13 

152 

117 

641 

190 

775 

88 

918 

12 

81 

571 

137 

80 

187 

177 


10,063 


168  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Let  us  now  observe  some  of  the  results  of  this  re- 
markable movement  as  they  appear  in  the  country. 

The  general  public  has  little  knowledge  of  the  rural 
districts.  When  the  public  travels,  it  is  usually  by  rail ; 
it  sees  as  much  of  the  country  as  can  be  seen  from  the 
car-window.  The  thriving  villages  and  prospective 
cities,  strung  like  beads  on  the  lines  of  travel,  give  the 
impression  of  general  prosperity.  We  hardly  appre- 
ciate how  large  a  proportion  of  the  population  lives 
five,  ten,  or  fifteen  miles  back  from  the  railroad  under 
conditions  very  different.  The  reporter,  ubiquitous 
along  the  lines  of  telegraph  and  railway,  is  wanting 
here.  It  is  the  life  of  the  city  ";hat  is  reflected  in  the 
press;  that  of  the  country  is  unreported.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  the  Evangelical  Alliance  for  the  United 
States,  in  the  summers  of  1889  and  1890,  carefully  inves- 
tigated the  condition  of  a  large  number  of  rural  com- 
munities in  the  State  of  New  York.  Five  counties  were 
explored,  two  in  the  central  part  of  the  state  and  one  in 
each  of  the  three  lobes, — northern,  southern,  and  west- 
ern. Excepting  the  cities,  these  counties  were  carefully 
canvassed,  the  people  being  visited  in  their  homes  or 
diligently  inquired  after.  A  study  was  made  of  eco- 
nomic, moral,  and  religious  conditions,  and  statistics  of 
population,  churches,  church  membership,  and  church 
attendance  were  gathered. 

From  one  quarter  to  one  tenth  of  the  population  were 
found  in  church  on  a  pleasant  Sunday.  Somewhat  less 
than  one  half  of  the  Protestant  population  claimed  to 
be  church-goers  (and  many  base  such  claims  on  the  fact 
that  they  sometimes  attend  a  funeral  in  a  church).  In 
fifteen  villages,  containing  a  population  of  about 
30,000,  all  in  one  county,  only  23  per  cent  of  the 
people  were  church-goers.  One  pastor  reported  that  in 
his  calls,  the  summer  before,  he  found  two  hundred 
and  fifty  heads  of  families  not  connected  with  any 
church.  Many  Protestant  church  buildings  were  seen 
falling  into  decay,  having  been  abandoned  long  since  to 
"  bats  and  brickbats."  In  one  village,  with  two  disused 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  169 

Protestant  churches  and  one  active  Roman  Catholic 
church,  there  were  fourteen  saloons,  all  within  a  dis- 
tance of  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  There  were  a  few  years 
ago  in  one  town  a  large  Presbyterian  church,  two  Meth- 
odist churches,  a  Baptist  church,  and  a  flourishing  Bap- 
tist seminary.  To-day  the  Presbyterian  church  is  used 
as  a  barn,  the  Baptist  church  is  abandoned,  the  two 
Methodist  churches  are  almost  extinct,  and  the  Baptist 
seminary  is  utilized  as  a  Roman  Catholic  church.  In 
many  villages  there  were  twice  as  many  churches  as 
were  needed,  all  feeble  and  struggling  with  each  other 
for  life,  while  along  the  Erie  Canal  for  eight  miles  were 
found  scattered  hamlets,  containing  together  a  consider- 
able population,  where  there  was  no  religious  service  of 
any  kind  from  one  year's  end  to  another.  Information 
from  other  parts  of  the  state  indicates  that  these  five 
counties  are  fairly  representative  of  the  rural  districts 
of  New  York.  A  clergyman  in  another  county  writes : 
"  We  have  investigated  the  condition  of  the  county 
and  find  it  little  less  than  appalling.  Not  one  half  of 
its  children  have  Sabbath-school  privileges,  and  wide 
stretches  of  country  are  without  any  religious  activities 
of  any  kind." 

From  other  investigations  made  in  Ohio,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  several  of  the  New  England  States  it  appears 
that  such  conditions  are  not  so  exceptional  as  many 
might  imagine.  At  an  interdenominational  meeting 
held  in  Waterville,. Maine,  in  November,  1891,  a  Meth- 
odist clergyman  of  that  state,  Rev.  C.  S.  Cummings, 
made  the  following  statements,  which  were  not  ques- 
tioned by  any  speaker:  "There  are  at  least  seventy 
towns  in  Maine  in  which  no  religious  service  is  held.' 
At  the  same  time  there  are  scores  of  towns  in  which 


1  Rev.  A.  E.  Dunning,  D.D.,  in  The  Andover  Review  for  November,  1890. 
says:  "There  are  ninety-five  towns  and  plantations  in  Maine  where  no  re- 
ligious services  of  any  sort  are  held,  and  more  villages  in  Illinois  without 
the  gospel  than  in  any  other  state  in  me  UmVi.  These  statements  are 
made  on  the  authority  of  superintendents  and  secretaries  of  missions  in  the 
fields  named." 


170  THE  NEW  ERA. 

two  or  more  little  churches  are  struggling  for  existence, 
calling  for  missionary  help  and  expending  most  of  their 
energies  in  raising  money  to  pay  current  expenses. 
Moreover,  55,000  families  in  Maine  do  not  attend 
church  services.  In  Oxford  County  but  38  per  cent 
of  the  people  go  to  church.  In  Waldo  County  only 
31  per  cent  attend.  The  Maine  Bible  Society  report 
19,013  families  visited  one  year,  56  per  cent  of  whom 
were  non-church-going.  Of  children  of  school  age 
45,000  do  not  attend  Sunday-school.  There  was  a  time 
when  to  die  without  the  benefit  of  the  clergy  was 
a  penalty  of  law  for  public  offenders ;  but  now  it  is  a 
common  occurrence.  Of  seventy -eight  funerals  at 
which  I  officiated  last  year  forty-one  were  in  non- 
church-going  families,  and  thirty -one  of  them  were  of 
adults  who  were  sick  and  died  without  a  visit  from  any 
religious  person,  a  prayer,  or  a  word  of  Christian  hope. 
I  did  not  know  that  such  people  existed  until  I  was 
sent  for  after  death."  The  speaker  proceeded  to  show 
that  vice  and  im  rality  were  rapidly  growing,  and 
said  that  society  was  "honeycombed  with  gambling 
and  lottery  schemes." 

Of  course  it  is  not  pretended  that  the  above  describes 
the  condition  of  all  country  communities ;  but  it  is  only 
a  question  of  time  when  precisely  such  conditions  will 
result  from  wall-  jtablished  tendencies  which  exist 
wherever  the  population  is  being  depleted.  Investiga- 
tions justify  the  following  ^eneralizati  ns  relative  to  the 
results  in  rural  communities  of  this  movement  of  popu- 
lation from  country  to  city 

1.  Roads  dete:  orate.  It  costs  as  much  to  keep  roads 
in  repair  for  one  thousand  people  as  for  two  thousand, 
and  the  burden  rests  more  and  more  heavily  on  each 
tax -payer  as  population  falls  off.  A  sparse  population 
rarely  has  good  roads,  especially  in  hilly  or  mountainous 
regions.  They  are  generally  poor,  often  execrable, 
sometimes  impassable. 

Roads  are  an  index  of  civilization,  and  good  roads  are 
among  its  most  important  factors.  They  affect  not  only 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  171 

economic  conditions,  but  intellectual,  moral,  and  relig- 
ious as  well. 

It  makes  a  great  difference  to  the  farmer  whether  he 
travels  ten  miles  in  one  hour  or  in  three,  and  whether 
his  team  can  draw  two  tons  of  produce  or  a  half -ton. 
The  value  of  his  farm  is  affected  by  its  distance  from 
market,  and  a  poor  road  may  lengthen  five  miles  into 
fifteen. 

As  the  road  deteriorates  he  is  practically  moved 
farther  and  farther  back  from  the  village.  The  post- 
office  is  now  so  far  away  that  he  very  likely  drops  the 
weekly  paper,  attendance  at  church  becomes  more  ir- 
regular as  it  grows  more  difficult,  and  at  length  ceases 
altogether.  Few  attend  church  from  a  greater  distance 
than  two  miles.  Investigations  in  the  rural  districts  of 
New  York  showed  that  from  seventy-five  to  ninety-five 
per  cent  of  the  church-goers  lived  within  two  miles  of 
the  church. 

2.  When  population  decreases  and  roads  deteriorate 
property  depreciates,  mortgages  multiply,  sheriff's  sales 
increase,  and  everything  has  a  downward  tendency.    Of 
course  the  market  value  of  agricultural  land  falls  as 
the  demand  for  it  diminishes,  and  the  removal  of  popu- 
lation affects  all  of  the  kinds  of  business  which  exist  at 
the  village.    It  has  been  announced  that  during  the  first 
three  weeks  of  1892  no  less  than  sixteen  country  stores 
in  a   single   New  England    county  stopped   business. 
Thus  business  is  following  to  larger  centres  the  little 
factories  which  used  to  be  scattered  along  the  water- 
powers  of  New  England.    And  as  this  movement  of 
business  is  a  result  of  the  centralization  of  population  it 
also  serves  to  increase  that  centralization  at  the  expense 
of  the  country. 

3.  The  removal  of  population  very  seriously  weakens 
the  churches   and  impairs    the    schools.     As    church 
privileges  and  school  advantages  become  poorer,  those 
who  prize  them  most  highly  have  increasing  reasons  for 
leaving;  so  that  there  is  a  constant  tendency  toward 
the  loss  of  the  best  elements,  and  the  churches  suffer 


172  THE  NEW  ERA. 

more  than  the  community  at  large.  The  depleted 
churches,  in  their  struggle  for  existence,  almost  neces- 
sarily fall  into  competition  with  each  other,  and  the 
smaller  the  village  the  sharper  becomes  the  sectarian 
rivalry.  Instead  of  making  the  church  a  means  to  save 
men,  men  are  sought,  if  at  all,  as  a  means  to  save  the 
church.  Thus  the  churches  lose  their  hold  on  the  popu- 
lation; and  as  they  grow  weaker  the  minister'  .upport 
dwindles  until  he  is  forced  to  divide  his  time  with  some 
other  feeble  church  in  a  neighboring  village,  or  turn 
aside  to  farming  in  order  to  eke  out  his  scanty  living, 
or  leave  altogether.  In  this  way  the  churches  are  en- 
feebled until  many  of  them  become  extinct.  During 
the  past  thirty  years  thousands  of  churches  have  thus 
died  from  exhaustion  in  the  rural  districts  of  the  United 
States. 

4.  Again,  this  emigration  is  often  accompanied  by  an 
immigration  which  results  not  in  the  depletion  of  popu- 
lation, but  in  an  exchange  of  the  native  for  a  foreign 
stock.  This  is  the  reason  that  more  states  did  not  show 
an  actual  loss  of  rural  population  from  1880  to  1890. 
Says  Prof.  Rodney  Welch :'  "It  may  sound  strange  to 
eastern  readers,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  in  the 
States  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa  more  farms  have 
been  deserted  by  their  owners  than  in  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  and  Massachusetts.  In  the  New  England 
States  owners  leave  their  farms  because  the  labor  spent 
in  cultivating  them  is  no  longer  remunerative,  but  such 
is  not  the  case  in  the  prairie  regions  f  the  West.  There 
the  owners  of  farms  leave  them  for  the  reason  that  they 
can  obtain  sufficient  rent  from  tenants  to  enable  them 
to  support  their  families  in  towns.  Cities  in  several  of 
the  Western  States  contain  hundreds  of  retired  farmers, 
.  .  .  who  have  divided  their  farms  into  small  tracts, 
erected  cheap  buildings  on  them,  and  leased  them,  gen- 
erally to  persons  of  foreign  birth.2  The  result  of  this 

1  The  Forum,  Feb.  18ai,  p.  697. 

2  Extra  Census  Bulletin  No.  18  shows  that  in  ten  Bounties  investigated  in 
Kansas  33.25  per  cent  of  the  farmers  were  tenants,  in  ten  counties  in  Ohio 
37.10  per  cent  were  tenants. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  173 

is  the  formation  of  a  distinct  peasant  class,  such  as  is 
found  in  Bavaria  and  Bohemia.  In  entire  counties  in 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin  the  English  language  is  scarcely 
ever  heard  outside  of  the  large  towns."  Thus  one  result 
of  this  migration  is  the  development  of  an  ignorant 
rural  peasantry  and  a  class  of  absentee  landlords. 

5.  One  other  result  of  this  movement  of  population 
from  country  to  city  must  be  noted  as  of  the  utmost 
importance. 

When  population  decreases  and  roads  deteriorate 
there  is  increasing  isolation,  with  which  comes  a  ten- 
dency toward  degeneration  and  demoralization.  The 
mountain  whites  of  the  South  afford  an  illustration  of 
the  results  of  such  a  tendency  operating  through  sev- 
eral generations.  They  come  chiefly  from  good  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch -Irish  stock,  but  living  remote  from 
civilization  and  out  of  the  current  of  modern  progress, 
they  have  been  swept  into  eddies  which  have  carried 
them  back  toward  barbarism.  Their  heathenish  degra- 
dation is  due  not  to  their  antecedents,  but  primarily  to 
their  isolation.  Like  conditions  have  produced  like 
results  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  would  prove  as 
operative  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York  as  in  eastern 
Tennessee  and  northern  Alabama.  Indeed,  the  writer 
knows  of  a  town  in  one  of  the  older  New  England  States 
where  such  conditions  have  obtained  for  several  gen- 
erations and  have  produced  precisely  the  same  results, 
— the  same  large  families  of  twelve  or  fifteen  members, 
the  same  illiteracy,  the  same  ignorance  of  the  Christian 
religion,  the  same  vices,  the  same  "marriage"  and 
"  divorce  "  without  reference  to  the  laws  of  God  or  man, 
which  characterize  the  mountain  whites  of  the  South. 
These  mountain  whites  of  the  North  came  from  the 
old  New  England  stock,  and  lived  in  the  hill  country, 
where  their  ancestors  settled  in  isolation  from  the  sur- 
rounding community.  When  we  consider  the  meaning 
of  this  depletion  of  the  rural  towns,  it  becomes  pain- 
fully significant  that  Aere  are  932  townships  in  New 
England  where  this  process  of  deterioration  has  already 


174  THE  NEW  ERA, 

begun ;  that  there  are  641  such  townships  in  New  York, 
775  in  Ohio,  489  in  Indiana,  792  in  Illinois,  571  in  Ten- 
nessee, 919  in  Pennsylvania,  and  more  than  10,000  in  the 
United  States. 

If  this  migration  continues,  and  no  new  preventive 
measures  are  aevised,  I  see  no  reason  why  isolation, 
irreli<?ion,  ignorance,  vice,  and  degradation  should  not 
increase  in  the  country  until  we  have  a  rural  American 
peasantry,  illiterate  and  immoral,  possessing  the  rights 
of  citizenship,  but  utterly  incapable  of  performing  or 
comprehending  its  duties. 

It  becomes,  then,  a  question  of  the  utmost  interest 
whether  this  movement  is  temporary  or  not.  Some 
hoped  that  the  census  of  1890  would  show  that  a  re- 
action toward  ihe  country  had  already  set  in ;  but  such 
hopes  could  not  have  been  based  on  a  knowledge  of  the 
causes  of  this  movement.  It  has  been  thought  to  result 
from  conditions  naturally  attendant  on  the  growth  of 
a  new  civilization  and  the  rapid  development  of  the 
West.  Such  causes  have  had  their  influence,  but  there 
are  others  which  are  at  the  same  time  more  powerful 
and  more  permanent. 

This  migration  from  country  to  city  is  by  no  means 
peculiar  to  the  United  States.  It  is  a  world  movement. 
From  1851  to  1881  the  population  of  England  increased 
forty-five  per  cent.  But  this  increase  was  entirely  in 
the  cities;  the  rural  population  remained  stationary. 
From  1880  to  1885  the  population  of  Germany  increased 
about  a  half  million  a  year,  but  the  rural  population 
decreased  156,000.  During  the  same  period  there  was 
a  small  increase  in  the  population  of  France.  The  cities 
gained  several  hundred  thousand,  but  the  rural  dis- 
tricts lost  450,000.'  All  this  might  be  attributed  to  the 
vast  and  sudden  expansion  of  agriculture  in  the  United 
States,  but  this  same  movement  appears  in  parts  or 
Asia, — Japan  for  instance — with  whose  agriculture  we 
do  not  come  into  competition. 

1  Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  Lonaon,  June,  1889,  pp.  210,  &&. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  175 

This  tendency  is  not  peculiar  to  our  times;  it  has 
always  existed,  and  this  mighty  movement  of  popula- 
tion has  been  due  to  certain  causes  which  in  our  cen- 
tury have  made  this  tendency  exceptionally  operative. 

Later  we  will  examine  these  causes,  but  let  us  first 
look  for  a  moment  at  this  tendency;  it  is  as  old  as 
human  nature.  Far  back  in  the  beginning  it  asserted 
itself,  and  the  record  of  it  is  found  in  the  words,  Cain 
"builded  a  city."  Here  population  gathered,  not  as  in 
later  times,  because  a  few  nobles  held  the  land  and  the 
many  were  huddled  into  a  corner  called  a  city;  not 
because  men  must  needs  find  security  from  hostile 
armies  behind  high  walls  and  strong  gates ;  not  at  the 
demands  of  commerce,  for  then  India  and  Egypt  sent 
out  no  caravans  to  exchange  their  strange  and  costly 
merchandise ;  nor  under  the  influence  of  manufactures, 
did  this  city  rise.  The  causes  to  which  we  usually 
ascribe  the  origin  of  modern  cities  were  absent.  Cain's 
city  was  an  expression  of  man's  social  nature  which  has 
asserted  itself  in  all  lands  and  in  all  ages. 

A  poor  Irishwoman  was  found  half  starved  in  the 
lower  part  of  Ne>w  York  City,  and  was  sent  by  some 
benevolent  people  into  the  country,  where  work  was 
provided  for  her.  In  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  she  was 
seen  back  again  in  her  old  haunts.  "  Couldn't  you  find 
work  enough?"  she  was  asked.  "Yis."  "Didn't  you 
have  enough  to  eat  and  to  wear,  and  weren't  you  com- 
fortable?" "Yis."  "Well,  then,  why  did  you  come 
back  here  to  starve  rather  than  live  there  in  comfort  ? " 
"Paples  is  more  coompany  than  sthumps,"  was  the 
answer;  and  it  contained  whole  chapters  of  philosophy 
on  the  origin  and  growth  of  cities. 

Aside  from  powerful  commercial  and  industrial 
causes  for  the  growth  of  urban  population,  man  as  a 
social  animal  has  always  sought  his  fellow ;  and  because 
men  would  rather  live  together  than  apart,  the  city  has 
always  been  as  large  as  it  could  well  be,  with  a  constant 
tendency  in  former  times  to  outgrow  its  supplies,  which 
resulted  in  frequent  famines.  Many  of  the  sovereigns 


176  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  England  vainly  attempted  by  proclamation  to  stop 
the  growth  of  London  and  turn  the  human  tide  back 
into  the  country.  Even  in  the  century  before  Christ  it 
was  complained  that  Rome  was  overcrowded,  and 
Virgil  sang,  "The  plough  is  no  longer  honored;  the 
husbandmen  have  been  led  away,  and  the  fields  are 
foul  with  weeds." 

In  his  admirable  work,1  the  Rev.  Samuel  Lane  Loomis 
lays  down  the  law  of  the  growth  of  cities  as  follows: 
"The  urban  population  in  every  country  is  always  as 
large  as  its  circumstances  allow."  The  radical  changes 
in  the  methods  of  production  and  distribution  which 
characterize  modern  civilization  have  made  it  possible 
to  feed  a  city  of  any  size,  have  added  powerfully  to 
the  attracting  influence  of  the  city  and  at  the  same  time 
liberated  great  numbers  from  agricultural  pursuits. 
These  are  the  causes  which  in  our  century  have  made 
this  tendency  toward  the  city  exceptionally  operative. 

The  invention  of  agricultural  machinery  makes  it 
possible  for  a  comparatively  small  number  of  men  to 
produce  the  necessary  food.  "  It  is  a  fact,  estimated  by 
careful  men  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  changes 
that  have  taken  place,  that  by  the  improvement  in 
agricultural  tools  (machinery)  the  average  farmer  can, 
with  sufficient  horse-power,  do  with  three  men  the 
work  of  fourteen  men  forty  years  ago,  and  do  it 
better."2  These  ten  men  thrown  out  of  employment 
in  the  country  seek  it  in  the  city.  The  implements 
which  have  supplanted  them  on  the  farm  are  made  in 
the  city.  These  manufactures  and  a  thousand  others 
attract  labor,  and  the  railway  makes  it  easy  to  mass 
populations  and  to  feed  them  v/hen  massed.  Hence 
this  world-wide  movement  of  population  from  country 
to  city  wherever  modern  civilization  has  gone,  and  the 
reasonableness  of  the  conviction  that  thk  movement  is 
no  more  temporary  than  the  railway,  the  factory,  and 
agricultural  machinery. 

1  Modern  Cities,  p.  85.    Baker  &  Taylor,  New  York. 

2  Report  of  Special  Asrent  on  Agricultural  Implements,  Tenth  Census  V.  .s, 
Vol.  II.  p.  700.    Quoted  in  "Modern  Cities." 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  177 

Modern  sanitation  and  invention  are  making  the  city 
less  unsafe  and  more  attractive  for  residence  every 
year.  The  agricultural  population  is  necessarily  limited 
to  those  who  find  employment  in  agriculture  and  can- 
not be  increased  beyond  a  certain  limit.  The  city  may 
grow  indefinitely.  There  is,  therefore,  every  prospect 
that  for  generations  to  come  an  ever-increasing  propor- 
tion of  our  population  will  be  urban. 

We  must,  therefore,  expect  the  steady  deterioration  of 
our  rural  population,  unless  effective  preventive  measures 
are  devised.  How  to  devise  such  measures  is  the 
problem  of  the  country. 

We  shall  not  appreciate  the  full  importance  of  this 
problem  unless  we  remember  that  the  degeneration  of 
the  rural  population  means  the  later  degeneration  of 
the  urban  population  also,  for  the  latter  draws  its  life 
from  the  former.  "The  city,"  says  Emerson,  "is  re- 
cruited from  the  country.  The  city  would  have  died 


\/ 


out,  rotted  and  exploded,  long  ago,  but  that  it  was  re- 
inforced from  the  fields.  It  is  only  country  which  came 
to  town  day  before  yesterday  that  is  city  and  court  to- 
day." '  "Sociologists  tell  us  that  'only  the  agricul-  / 
tural  class  possesses  permanent  vitality ;  from  its  over- 
flow the  city  population  is  formed,  displaced,  renewed.' 
'  Any  city  population,  if  left  to  itself,  would  die  out  in 
four  generations.'  '  The  city  is  an  inland  lake,  fed  by 
constant  streams,  but  without  an  outlet.'  As  are  the 
fountains,  so  will  be  stream  and  lake.  The  problem  of 
rural  Christianity  is  the  problem  of  national  Chris- 
tianity stated  a  few  generations  in  advance."  a 

1  Prose  works,  Vol.  I.  p.  482. 

*  President  William  De  Witt  Hyde,  "  Impending  Paganism  in  New  Eng- 
land," Forum,  June,  1892,  p.  528. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY. 

A  GENERATION  ago  Professor  Francis  Lieber,  I  think 
it  was,  said  that  the  city  was  "the  most  difficult  and 
perplexing  problem  of  modern  times."  And  more  than 
forty  years  ago  Alexis  De  Tocqueville,  whom  Mr.  Glad- 
stone calls  the  Edmund  Burke  of  his  generation,  wrote: 
"I  look  upon  the  size  of  certain  American  cities,  and 
especially  upon  the  nature  of  their  population,  as  a  real 
danger  which  threatens  the  security  of  the  democratic 
republics  of  the  New  World."  If  the  judgment  and 
fears  of  Lieber  and  De  Tocqueville  were  well  founded, 
the  problem  of  the  city  is  now  much  more  perplexing 
and  the  necessity  of  its  solution  far  more  urgent,  for 
our  urban  population  is  to-day  six  times  as  large  as  it 
was  forty  years  ago,  and  more  than  twice  as  large  rela- 
tively. In  1850  one  eighth  of  our  population  lived  in 
cities  of  8000  and  over ;  now  considerably  more  than  one 
fourth. 

The  city  means  both  the  place  and  the  population. 
Each  influences  the  other.  In  an  important  sense  the 
place  makes  the  people,  and  in  a  more  important  sense 
the  people  make  the  place.  Both  the  people  and  the 
place,  then,  enter  into  the  problem  of  the  city.  That 
problem,  so  far  as  the  place  is  concerned,  is  to  make  the 
city  serve  in  the  highest  possible  degree  the  physical, 
intellectual,  and  moral  health  of  the  people.  So  far  as 
the  population  is  concerned,  the  problem  of  the  city  is 
to  secure  the  noblest  possible  manhood  and  womanhood. 

But  this  may  be  said  to  be  the  great  problem  of  the 
city  and  of  civilization  always  and  everywhere,  while 

17? 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  179 

there  are  certain  distinctive  problems  of  the  city  whose 
solution  is  peculiarly  difficult  in  the  United  States,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  especially  urgent  at  the  present  time. 
There  are  many  subordinate  problems  or  factors  which 
enter  into  the  one  great  problem,  but  there  are  two 
which  because  of  their  overshadowing  importance  will 
occupy  our  attention  in  this  discussion,  viz.,  municipal 
government  and  city  evangelization.  These  two,  which 
are  intimately  related,  together  constitute  the  distinctive 
problem  of  the  city,  for  this  generation  at  least. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  written  on  these  two  sub- 
jects the  past  few  years  that  it  may  be  presumptuous  to 
attempt  to  add  anything.  What  I  may  venture  to  sug- 
gest toward  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  city  will 
be  found  in  a  later  chapter.  My  present  purpose  will 
be  accomplished  if  I  succeed  in  presenting  in  a  strong 
light  the  nature  and  unappreciated  importance  of  the 
problem. 

I.  The  government  of  the  city  is  by  a  "boss,"  who  is 
skilful  in  the  manipulation  of  the  "machine,"  and  who 
hold^s  no  political  principles  "except  for  revenue  only." 
His  sentiments  and  practice  accord  perfectly  with  the 
brutal  and  infamous  utterance  of  Senator  Ingalls:  "  The 
purification  of  politics  is  an  iridescent  dream.  Govern- 
ment is  force.  Politics  is  a  battle  for  supremacy.  Par- 
ties are  the  armies.  The  Decalogue  and  the  Golden 
Rule  have  no  place  in  a  political  campaign.  The  object 
is  success.  To  defeat  the  antagonist  and  expel  the 
party  in  power  is  the  purpose.  In  war  it  is  lawful  to 
deceive  the  adversary,  to  hire  Hessians,  to  purchase 
mercenaries,  to  mutilate,  to  kill,  to  destroy." 

The  "  boss  "  is  the  natural  product  of  a  vicious  politi- 
cal partisanship,  together  with  a  large  foreign  popula- 
tion which  has  not  sufficient  character  and  intelligence 
for  independent  or  individual  judgment  and  action. 
While  in  the  aggregate  there  are  many  foreigners  to 
whom  this  remark  does  not  apply,  we  still  have  the 
"  Irish  vote,"  the  "  German  vote,"  the  "  Roman  Catholic 
vote.''  and  the  like,  which  by  appeals  to  race  or  re- 


180  THE  NEW  ERA. 

ligious  prejudice  or  for  "value  received  "  may  be  cast 
in  great  blocks — which  of  course  constitutes  the  city 
the  demagogue's  Paradise.  Human  nature  is  no  weaker 
in  the  city  than  in  the  country,  no  more  corrupt  in 
America  than  in  Europe.  The  existence  of  great 
masses  of  votes  which  can  be  easily  bought  and  sold  or 
otherwise  controlled  is  sure  to  find  unscrupulous  men 
who  are  only  too  willing  by  such  means  to  seize  power 
and  plunder. 

European  cities  are  in  population  remarkably  homo- 
geneous and  native;  ours  are  remarkably  heterogene- 
ous and  foreign.  London  is  deemed  a  little  world, 
because  one  may  meet  there  the  representatives  of 
almost  every  race;  and  yet  "out  of  every  one  hundred 
Londoners  in  1880,  sixty -three  were  natives  of  London, 
ninety-four  of  England  and  Wales,  and  ninety -eight  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  Emerald  Isle  furnished 
but  2.1  per  cent  of  London's  population;  and  all  foreign 
countries  put  together,  only  1.6  per  cent." '  Contrast 
this  with  the  foreign  element  of  our  cities.  The  Tenth 
Census  showed  that  of  our  fifty  principal  cities  29.8  per 
cent  of  the  population  were  foreign-born,  while  those 
who  were  foreign  by  birth  or  parentage  often  consti- 
tuted three  fourths  or  four  fifths  of  the  population. 

Most  of  these  foreigners  have  little  understanding  of 
our  political  issues  and  less  of  our  institutions.  They 
see  nothing  to  be  gained  by  independent  action  at  the 
polls  and  much  to  be  gained  by  concerted  action.  They 
accordingly  follow  their  leaders,  and  are  led  into 
whatever  camp  bids  highest  in  patronage  or  plunder. 
Doubtless  in  every  city  the  good  citizens  who  want 
honest  government  are  in  a  majority,  but  with  fatal 
folly  they  divide  on  political  questions  which  have  no 
more  to  do  with  municipal  government  than  with  the 
moon;  and  this  division  enables  the  "bosses"  to  hold 
the  balance  of  power  and  dictate  their  terms.  The  per- 
fectly natural  result  is  a  debauched  city  government. 

1  Census  of  England  and  Wains,  1881,  Vol.  IV.  p.  59.  Quoted  by  8.  L. 
Loomis  in  ''Modern  Cities." 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  181 

The  officials  of  European  cities  are  often  eminent 
men,  the  fittest  possible  for  the  place,  who  honor  their 
office  and  are  honored  by  it.  But  such  is  the  corruption 
of  municipal  politics  here  that  only  now  and  then  will  a 
man  of  high  character  accept  office.  Many  of  the  more 
intelligent  are  so  disgusted  that  they  will  not  even  go  to 
the  polls.  Others  stay  away  because,  as  they  say,  "It's 
no  use;"  while  others  are  "too  busy"  to  vote.  A  few 
years  ago  there  was  an  important  election  in  New 
York,  the  result  of  which  would  determine  whether 
criminals  were  to  be  vigorously  prosecuted.  And 
though  there  was  more  than  usual  interest  in  the 
election  three  miles  of  brownstone  fronts  on  Fifth 
Avenue  furnished  but  twenty-eight  votes !  It  is  quite 
possible  that  Cherry  Street  and  "The  Bend"  furnished 
more  votes  than  they  had  voters.  Some  one  has  said 
with  as  much  truth  as  wit:  "The  mediaeval  sovereign 
hired  a  fellow  to  be  his  fool;  but  the  'popular  sov- 
ereign' often  hires  the  fellow  to  be  his  master,  and  is 
his  own  fool." 

To  how  great  an  extent  he  is  his  own  fool  who  absents 
himself  from  the  polls  or  who  respects  party  lines  in 
municipal  elections,  does  not  appear  until  he  reckons  up 
how  much  it  costs  to  hire  the  fellow  to  be  his  master. 

It  costs  a  heavy  burden  of  debt  and  taxation.  Ten 
of  our  larger  cities,  whose  aggregate  population  is 
6,466,000,  have  a  total  indebtedness  of  over  $351,000,000, 
or  fifty-four  dollars  per  caput  for  each  inhabitant.  Mr. 
Bryce  gives  the  following  table  of  the  increase  of  popu- 
lation, valuation,  taxation,  and  debt  in  fifteen  of  the 
largest  cities  of  the  United  States,  from  1860  to  1875.  > 

Increase  in  population 70.5  per  cent. 

"        "  taxable  valuation 156.9   "     " 

"debt 870.9    "      " 

"        "  taxation  363.2    "      " 

The  increase  of  the  municipal  debt  of  New  York  in 
a  single  generation  was  from  $10,000,000  in  1840  to 

1  The  American  Commonwealth,  Vol.  I.  p.  607. 


182  THE  NEW  ERA. 

$113,000,000  in  1876.  The  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain 
in  a  comparison  of  Birmingham  and  Boston  shows  that 
of  these  two  cities,  having  about  the  same  population  in 
1890,  the  latter  expends  more  than  six  times  as  much  as 
the  former  for  the  same  objects.  After  examining  the 
management  of  a  hundred  of  our  cities,  great  and 
small,  he  says:  "Americans  pay  for  less  efficient  ser- 
vice in  their  large  towns  nearly  five  times  as  much  as 
is  paid  in  the  case  of  a  well-managed  English  munici- 
pality." ' 

If  the  objects  for  which  these  great  expenditures  are 
made  were  really  secured,  the  waste  would  be  less 
lamentable;  but  they  are  not.  The  streets  are  gen- 
erally ill-paved  and  filthy,  sanitary  provisions  are 
neglected,  the  public  health  is  involved,  and  public 
works  are  rarely  creditable.  An  extremely  able  com- 
mission, of  which  Hon.  W.  M.  Evarts  was  chairman, 
referring  to  the  debt  of  New  York  City,  said:  "The 
magnitude  and  rapid  increase  of  this  debt  are  not  less 
remarkable  than  the  poverty  of  the  results  exhibited  as 
the  return  for  so  prodigious  an  expenditure.  ...  In 
truth,  the  larger  part  of  the  city  debt  represents  a 
vast  aggregate  of  moneys  wasted,  embezzled,  or  mis- 
applied." s  A  memorial  presented  to  the  Pennsylvania 
legislature  in  1883  by  a  number  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Philadelphia  contained  the  following:  "Philadelphia 
is  now  recognized  as  the  worst-paved  and  worst-cleaned 
city  in  the  civilized  world.  The  effort  to  clean  the 
streets  was  abandoned  for  months,  and  no  attempt  was 
made  to  that  end  until  some  public-spirited  citizens,  at 
their  own  expense,  cleaned  a  number  of  the  principal 
thoroughfares.  The  system  of  sewerage  and  the  physi- 
cal condition  of  the  sewers  is  notoriously  bad— so  much 
so  as  to  be  dangerous  to  the  health  and  most  offensive 
to  the  comfort  of  our  people.  Public  work  has  been 
done  so  badly  that  structures  have  had  to  be  renewed 

1  "Municipal  Institutions  in  America  and  England,"  The  Forum,  Novem- 
ber, 1892. 
*  Quoted  in  "The  American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  I.  p.  609. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  183 

almost  as  soon  as  finished.  Others  have  been  in  part 
constructed  at  enormous  expense,  and  then  permitted 
to  fall  to  decay  without  completion.  Inefficiency, 
waste,  badly-paved  and  filthy  streets,  unwholesome 
and  offensive  water,  and  slovenly  and  costly  manage- 
ment, have  been  the  rule  for  years  past  throughout  the 
city  government."1  One  might  naturally  ask,  If  we 
must  have  dangerous  pavements  and  foul  streets,  un- 
sanitary sewers  and  pestilential  tenements,  wouldn't  it 
be  possible  to  secure  them  for  less  than  four  or  five 
times  as  much  as  the  English  pay  for  good  service  ? 

Another  part  of  the  cost  of  hiring  "the  fellow"  to 
be  our  master  is  the  "giving  away"  of  valuable  fran- 
chises which  ought  to  bring  the  city  many  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars. 

But  the  cost  in  money  is  a  small  matter  compared  with 
the  sacrifice  of  health,  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral. 

The  public  health  has  been  intrusted  to  "  sanitary 
inspectors,"  who  not  only  lacked  all  special  training 
and  fitness,  but  also  common  intelligence — rumsellers 
and  low  pothouse  politicians.  A  few  years  ago  some 
of  these  "health-wardens"  in  New  York  testified  be- 
fore an  investigating  committee  of  the  state  that  there 
were  cases  of  "hyjinnicks"  (hygienics)  in  their  wards. 
Some  of  these  guardians  of  the  public  health  thought 
the  people  "had  the  hyjinnicks  pretty  bad,"  while 
others  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  patients  "  got  over  " 
them  quite  easily." 

In  different  wards  of  the  same  city  different  sanitary 
conditions  sometimes  cause  a  variation  in  the  death- 
rate  of  ten  or  more  in  a  thousand.  A  rise  of  tivo  in  a 
thousand  for  the  entire  city  of  New  York  would  mean 
over  3000  additional  deaths.  In  our  large  cities  doubt- 
less thousands  of  lives  are  sacrificed  to  politics  every 
year,  not  to  mention  the  sickness  and  suffering  which 
do  not  cost  life. 

1  Quoted  in  "The  American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  I.  pp.  606,  607. 
'"The  Government  of    American   Cities,"  by  Andrew  D.   White,   The 
Forum,  December,  1890. 


184  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Our  public  schools  are  often  sacrificed  in  like  manner. 
The  school  board  is  made  a  political  prize;  and  men 
take  charge  of  the  education  of  the  city  who,  in  some 
instances,  I  am  assured,  are  unable  to  read  or  write. 
Many  thousands  of  children  in  our  cities  are  forced  to 
grow  up  in  ignorance  for  lack  of  school  accommoda- 
tions. It  was  stated  not  long  since  that  a  recent  inves- 
tigation in  Chicago  revealed  the  fact  that  in  one  ward 
there  were  4500  more  children  than  there  were  school 
sittings.1 

But  the  most  serious  part  of  the  cost  of  such  govern- 
ment  is  the  price  which  is  paid  in  moral  character. 
Criminal  houses  flourish  so  openly  that  it  is  impossible 
,not  to  infer  official  complicity  with  vice.  Strange  that 
officers  whose  business  it  is  to  ferret  out  crime  are 
unable  to  discover  moral  slaughter-houses  which  re- 
spectable citizens  cannot  help  knowing  !  Instead  of 
making  vice  difficult  and  dangerous,  every  facility  is 
afforded  for  corrupting  the  youth. 

All  this  it  costs  in  debt  and  taxation,  in  discomfort 
and  disgrace,  in  life,  health,  and  character,  to  introduce 
politics  into  municipal  elections ;  that  is,  for  good  citi- 
zens to  divide  on  issues  which  are  absolutely  irrelevant 
to  the  business  of  city  government,  thus  permitting 
unscrupulous  demagogues  to  hold  the  balance  of  power 
and  ride  into  office. 

This  unspeakable  folly  is  all  but  universal.  Occasion- 
ally outraged  citizens  become  sufficiently  indignant  to 
rebel  against  party  leaders  and,  in  a  moment  of  sanity, 
set  up  an  independent  candidate.  But  usually  a  parti- 
san press  succeeds  in  whipping  enough  good  men  back 
into  line  to  defeat  the  reform  movement.  Returns 
from  127  cities  show  only  one  independent  or  non -polit- 
ical mayor.  Politics  is  thoroughly  rooted  in  our  sys- 
tem of  municipal  government,  and  has  so  vitiated  that 
system  that  its  failure  has  become  notorious.  "  There 
is  no  denying,"  says  Mr.  Bryce,  "that  the  government 

i  The  Christian  Union,  June  11, 1892S 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  185 

of  cities  is  the  one  conspicuous  failure  of  the  United 
States."  J  Mr.  Andrew  D.  White,  who  has  enjoyed  ex- 
ceptional opportunities  of  observation,  says  :  "  Without 
the  slightest  exaggeration  we  may  assert  that,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  the  city  governments  of  the 
United  States  are  the  worst  in  Christendom — the  most 
expensive,  the  most  inefficient,  and  the  most  corrupt." 2 
Let  us  consider  now  the  significance  of  this  fact.  It 
means  that  the  social  structure  is  weakest  at  the  pre- 
cise point  where  it  ought  to  be  strongest,  viz.,  where  it 
suffers  the  severest  strain.  Because  the  city  is  the 
microcosm  of  the  civilization  which  has  produced  it,  it 
gathers  into  itself  representatives  of  all  classes  of 
society;  and  because  it  is  the  point  of  most  intense 
activity,  every  maladjustment  of  society  produces  the 
greatest  friction  and  soreness  there.  It  is  there  that 
riots  occur ;  it  is  there  chiefly  that  the  unnatural  duel 
between  capital  and  labor  is  fought;  it  is  there  that 
social  extremes  are  found  in  sharpest  contrast  and  the 
deepest  jealousies  are  felt;  it  is  there  that  haters  of 
society  gather,  men  who  are  the  implacable  enemies  of 
all  order,  which  Schiller  calls 

"  The  keystone  of  the  world's  wide  arch  ; 
The  one  sustaining  and  sustained  by  all, 
Which,  if  it  fall,  brings  all  in  ruin  down." 

There  are  some  thousands  of  such  men  in  our  large 
cities  who  pour  contempt  on  all  authority  and  openly 
advocate  anarchy.  Of  course  they  constitute  a  small 
proportion  of  our  city  populations,  and  well-to-do  men 
are  only  disgusted  with  their  ravings ;  but  they  are  an 
evil  leaven,  which  under  favorable  circumstances  might 
leaven  a  large  lump.  In  the  city  is  found  extreme 
misery,  which  easily  becomes  desperate;  to  the  city 
human  wreckage  floats  and  there  serves  to  wreck  other 
lives ;  it  is  in  the  city  where  saloons  and  gambling  hells 
and  brothels  abound,  and  it  is  there  where  such  forces 


1  The  American  Commonwealth,  Vol.  I.  p.  COS. 
'  "  The  Government  of  American  Cities,"  The  Forum,  December,  1890. 


186  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  evil  increase  their  strength  by  organization.  It  is 
there  that  criminals  resort,  and  crimes  multiply.  Col. 
H.  M.  Boies,  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Board 
of  Charities,  says  that  Philadelphia  County  furnishes 
about  seven  and  a  half  times  and  Allegheny  County 
nearly  nine  times  as  many  criminals  to  the  population 
as  the  average  of  the  rural  counties.1  That  is,  there  is 
more  lawlessness  in  the  city  than  anywhere  else,  and 
there  where  the  dangerous  classes  congregate  the  gov- 
ernment is  the  most  inefficient  and  corrupt. 

Of  course  there  can  be  no  government  without  law. 
The  less  popular  respect  for  it  there  is,  the  more  central- 
ized must  the  government  be  to  prevent  anarchy.  Such 
a  government  may  control  lawless  people,  but  how  shall 
lawless  people  control  themselves?  The  fact  is  that 
here  in  the  United  States  those  classes  which  most  need 
to  be  controlled  are  themselves  very  generally  in  control 
of  the  city. 

And  this  fact  has  far  more  than  local  significance. 
Our  political  fabric  rests  on  two  fundamental  principles, 
that  of  local  self-government  and  that  of  federation. 
The  latter  was  a,t  stake  during  our  civil  war ;  and  South 
and  North  are  now  alike  agreed  that  this  principle  is 
settled  for  all  time.  The  former  principle  is  to-day  at 
stake  in  the  government  of  the  city.  This  principle  is  as 
vitally  essential  as  the  other ;  its  subversion  would  in- 
volve national  destruction  as  surely  as  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  Union. 

The  experiment  of  self-government  has  proved  suc- 
cessful in  the  rural  districts  and  the  towns,  and  it  is 
upon  these  that  our  states  have  relied  for  safety.  Mr. 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  speaking  on  "The  Menaces  of 
Civilization"  before  the  Congregational  Club  of  New 
York  City,  said:  "In  any  attempt  to  reform  them  by 
law,  would  we  not  find  nine  tenths  of  the  city  members 
in  the  legislature  hostile  ?  The  only  hope  of  reform  lies 


1 A  series  of  papers  on  Prisoners  and  Paupers.    See  The  Scranton  Tribune, 
January  16,  1892. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  187 

in  the  action  of  the  country  members.  The  average 
grade  of  our  city  politicians  is  a  serious  menace  to 
good  government.  Four  fifths  of  the  representatives  at 
Albany  from  New  York  and  Brooklyn  can  be  depended 
upon  to  vote  on  the  wrong  side  of  every  question." 
"This,"  said  a  leading  New  York  editor,  "from  an 
observation  of  twenty  years,  we  believe  to  be  true."  ' 

Our  cities  are  now  dependent  on  their  respective  state 
legislatures  for  the  measure  of  autonomy  which  they 
are  permitted  to  enjoy.  The  cities  have  abused  their 
power  to  such  an  extent  that  the  states  do  not  entrust 
them  with  full  liberty.  It  has  been  judicially  held  that 
municipal  government  is  a  subordinate  branch  of  state 
government  and  subject  to  the  state  legislature.  We 
have  not  dared  to  apply  to  the  cities  one  of  the  two 
fundamental  principles  of  the  republic.  But  whether 
or  not  they  will  prove  safe  guardians  of  it,  the  time  is 
soon  coming  when  the  cities  will  take  this  principle  into 
their  own  hands.  This  is  the  sure  prophecy  of  the  dis- 
proportionate growth  of  the  city,  which  was  discussed 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

When  the  population  of  the  city  exceeds  that  of  the 
country,  it  will  be  able  to  dominate  both  the  state  and 
the  nation.  And  if  our  municipal  government  is  a 
failure  then,  the  governments  of  state  and  nation,  con- 
trolled by  the  city,  will  also  be  failures,  and  our  free 
institutions  will  fail.  Was  not  this  day  of  domination 
by  the  city  what  Wendell  PhiHips  had  in  mind  when 
he  said  that  our  great  municipalities  would  yet  strain 
our  institutions  as  slavery  never  did  ? 

We  may  not  flatter  ourselves  that  this  movement  of 
population  from  country  to  city  is  temporary  and  local. 
It  is  neither.  It  is  not  incident  to  a  new  civilization. 
London  is  gaining  125,000  a  year,  Paris  50,000,  and  Berlin 
is  growing  faster  than  New  York.  Calcutta,  Madras, 
Bombay,  Shanghai,  and  Tokio,  and  even  the  cities  of 


1  Quoted  by  Rev.  Daniel  Dorchester,  D.D.,  in  an  address  before  the  Wash- 
ington Conference  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  1887. 


188  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Africa  as  well  as  those  of  Asia  and  Europe,  have  felt 
the  mighty  impulse.  The  unprecedented  growth  of 
cities  in  recent  years  is  a  world -phenomenon.  And  as 
the  causes  of  this  growth,  which  were  pointed  out  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  will  continue,  we  have  every 
reason  to  expect  this  growth  Avill  continue.  There  is  a 
natural  limit  to  the  growth  of  agricultural  population, 
but  none  to  that  of  the  city.  The  great  bulk  of  the  vast 
population  which  the  United  States  is  capable  of  sus- 
taining will  some  day  live  in  cities.  And  if  the  rate  of 
growth  and  movement  of  population  from  1880  to  1890 
continues  until  1920,  the  city  will  then  contain  upwards 
of  ten  millions  more  than  the  country. 

The  relative  growth  of  city  and  country  during  recent 
years  may  not  be  maintained  during  the  next  quarter 
of  a  century,  but  if  the  dominance  of  the  city  is  some- 
what delayed,  it  will  surely  come,  and  the  intervening 
period  of  national  probation  will  be  none  too  long  in 
which  to  regenerate  municipal  government  and  make 
the  city  a  safe  factor  in  our  national  life.  The  sooner 
we  undertake  the  cleansing  of  these  Augean  stables, 
the  less  herculean  will  be  our  task.  For,  as  a  rule, 
the  larger  the  city  the  more  powerful  is  the  ring  which 
rules  it,  the  more  debauched  and  debilitated  is  public 
sentiment,  and  the  more  difficult  is  it  to  execute  right- 
eous laws.  Take  prohibitory  liquor  laws,  for  instance; 
the  larger  the  city,  the  more  difficult  is  it  to  enforce 
them.  If  the  American  people  propose  to  root  out  the 
saloon,  they  would  better  do  it  before  the  city  dominates 
the  land ;  for  if  the  saloon  continues  to  govern  the  city, 
what  will  happen  when  the  city  governs  the  state  and 
the  nation  ? 

The  peril  to  the  republic  through  the  threatened  fail- 
ure of  one  of  our  two  fundamental  principles  is  as  real 
as  when  the  government  was  shaken  by  the  shock  of 
civil  strife.  And  perhaps  the  peril  is  all  the  greater 
because  the  crisis  is  less  imminent  and  to  many  gives 
no  warning.  Men  are  not  apt  to  sleep  when  the  drum 
beats  the  nation  to  battle.  A  generation  ago  men  were 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  189 

awake  to  the  peril  of  the  hour,  their  patriotism  was 
aroused,  and  no  sacrifice  of  blood  or  treasure  was  too 
precious  to  lay  on  the  altar  of  country  when  the  prin- 
ciple of  federation  was  endangered.  But  the  peril  which 
now  threatens  the  no  less  fundamental  principle  of  local 
self-government  is  insidious.  It  beats  no  drum,  it  fires 
no  cannon,  it  does  not  solidify  a  public  sentiment  against 
itself,  it  kindles  no  patriotism,  and  inspires  no  sacrifice 
in  its  opposition;  but  it  is  slowly,  secretly,  and  surely 
undermining  one  of  the  two  foundations  on  which  rests 
the  arch  of  our  free  institutions. 

Touching  municipal  government,  the  problem  of  the 
city  is  to  make  it  capable  of  governing  itself ;  and  this 
problem  must  be  solved  speedily  before  it  assumes 
national  proportions,  before  the  city  dominates  the 
country,  for  if  it  remains  unsolved,  it  will  then  involve 
our  republican  institutions  in  national  ruin. 

II.  Turn  now  to  the  problem  of  city  evangelization. 
Not  only  must  the  city  be  made  a  safe  factor  in  our 
civilization;  it  must  be  saved. 

1.  One  of  the  most  important  factors  of  this  problem 
is  the  composition  of  the  city,  which  is  thoroughly 
heterogeneous.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  not  with- 
out significance,  that  the  names  of  the  nine  largest 
cities  in  the  United  States  represent  no  less  than  seven 
languages — New  York,  Boston,  and  Baltimore  the  Eng- 
lish, Brooklyn  (formerly  Breuckelen)  the  Walloon, 
Philadelphia  the  Greek,  Cincinnati  the  Latin,  Chicago 
the  Indian,  St.  Louis  the  French,  and  San  Francisco  the 
Spanish.  Their  population  is  still  more  polyglot.  The 
Tenth  Census  shows  that  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chi- 
cago, and  San  Francisco  each  has  residents  from  Africa 
(not  specified),  Asia  (not  specified),  Atlantic  islands, 
Australia,  Austria,  Belgium,  Bohemia,  Canada,  New 
Brunswick,  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island,  British  America  (not  specified),  Central 
America,  China,  Cuba,  Denmark,  Europe  (not  speci- 
fied), France,  Baden,  Bavaria,  Brunswick,  Hamburg, 
Hanover,  Hessen,  Liibeck,  Mecklenburg,  Nassau,  Olden- 


190  THE  NEW  ERA. 

burg,  Prussia  (not  specified),  Saxony,  Weimar,  Wiir- 
temberg,  Germany  (not  specified),  Gibraltar,  England, 
Ireland,  Scotland,  Wales,  Greece,  Greenland,  Holland, 
Hungary,  India,  Italy,  Japan,  Luxemburg,  Malta, 
Mexico,  Norway,  Pacific  islands,  Poland,  Portugal, 
Russia,  Sandwich  Islands,  South  xlmerica,  Spain, 
Sweden,  Switzerland,  Turkey,  and  the  West  Indies. 
All  of  these  continents,  countries,  and  provinces  save 
one  are  represented  in  Brooklyn,  Boston,  and  Baltimore ; 
all  save  three  are  represented  in  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans;  and  all  save  four  in  Cincinnati.  What  mo- 
saics of  living  stones  our  city  populations  are,  repre- 
senting all  colors,  shades,  and  climes  !  In  New  York 
one  would  scarcely  look  in  vain  for  a  representative  of 
any  people.  Employed  in  one  factory  there  are  thirty 
men  from  Haran,  the  home  of  Abraham,  where  Terah 
died.  There  may  be  heard  a  babel  of  all  tongues.  It  is 
said  that  seventeen  languages  were  spoken  there  before 
the  Revolution,  when  the  population  was  less  than 
22,000. 

Though  only  about  one  third  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States  is  foreign  by  birth  or  parentage,  this  ele- 
ment rarely  constitutes  less  than  two  thirds  of  our 
larger  cities,  and  often  more  than  three  fourths.  When 
any  question  is  submitted  to  a  popular  vote  this  ele- 
ment easily  controls.  It  is  stated  that  at  an  election  in 
Cincinnati  the  guardians  of  the  ballot-box  were  a  Ger- 
man, a  Scandinavian,  and  an  Irishman,  and  they  re- 
fused to  let  a  native  American  vote  because  he  could 
produce  no  naturalization  papers. 

Our  cities  which  have  foreigners  in  sufficient  num- 
bers for  the  several  nationalities  to  segregate  them- 
selves contain  a  little  Germany  here,  a  little  Italy  there, 
a  little  Ireland  yonder,  and  the  like,  which  constitute 
socially  a  sort  of  crazy-quilt  patchwork,  only  the  differ 
ent  pieces  are  not  stitched  together.  And  it  becomes 
very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  influences  which 
would  otherwise  be  generally  pervasive  to  reach  and 
mould  these  strange  and  varied  elements. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  C1TT.  191 

If  the  foreigners  were  scattered  among  the  native 
population,  our  language  would  be  a  necessity  to  them, 
and  they  would  soon  become  acquainted  and  assimi- 
lated ;  but  segregated  they  simply  live  the  old  country 
life  on  our  soil.  They  are  like  unmasticated  food. 
Mastication  is  a  process  of  separating,  without  which 
digestion  is  a  slow  and  painful  process. 

Not  only  different  languages  but  also  different  ideas 
and  habits  of  life  combine  to  make  the  evangelization 
of  these  peoples  more  difficult.  Their  presence  has 
very  noticeably  and  lamentably  lowered  the  standard 
of  Sabbath  observance  and  impaired  habits  of  sobriety 
in  the  cities. 

I  bring  no  sweeping  accusation  against  foreigners. 
Many  of  those  who  come  to  us — perhaps  more  than  we 
commonly  suppose — are  Christian  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
name,  while  not  a  few  have  rendered  eminent  service 
to  religion,  morals,  literature,  and  political  reform. 
Still  we  are  compelled  to  recognize  facts,  and  the  facts 
are  that  a  majority  of  immigrants  believe  either  in  a 
perverted  and  superstitious  form  of  Christianity  or  in 
none  at  all.  A  great  majority  were  peasants,  whose 
lives,  in  many  instances,  have  been  subjected  to  spolia- 
tion and  wrong,  and  who  have  learned,  therefore,  to 
associate  law  with  tyranny,  and  conceive  of  freedom 
as  freedom  from  law,  or,  in  one  word,  license.  We 
must  not  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  foreign  element 
produces  far  more  than  its  due  proportion  of  criminals, 
and  heterogeneous  as  is  the  city  in  the  nationality  of  its 
people,  it  is  of  course  no  less  so  in  their  character.  It 
gathers  the  good  and  the  bad,  and  contains  that  which 
is  fairest  and  foulest  in  our  civilization. 

2.  Another  most  important  factor  in  the  problem  is 
environment,  which  in  the  slums  is  such  as  to  discour- 
age everything  except  a  divine  faith  and  love. 

The  crowded  tenement  is  the  hot-house  of  physical 
and  moral  disease.  As  the  compression  of  matter  de- 
velops heat,  so  the  compacting  of  populations  produces 
a  sort  of  fever  heat  which  manifests  itself  in  morbid 


192  THE  NEW  ERA, 

passions  and  appetites.  In  a  single  square  there  are 
crowded  together  two,  three,  and  even  four  thousand 
souls,  as  many  as  in  the  country  might  be  found  occu- 
pying twenty -five  or  fifty  square  miles.  Mrs.  Balling- 
ton  Booth  finds  seven  families  huddled  together  in  one 
room.  In  a  room  not  more  than  ten  by  twelve  feet,  Dr. 
A,  T.  Pierson  finds  eighteen  people,  men,  women,  and 
children,  black  and  white,  eating,  sleeping,  living. 
Sometimes  as  many  as  forty -five  people  sleep  in  a  single 
room.  Speaking  of  one  tenement,  Helen  Campbell 
says :  ' '  The  sun  never  enters  thirty-two  of  these  rooms 
— darkness  means  the  devil's  deeds — and  they  never  get 
a  breath  except  from  the  rooms  into  which  they  open. 
You  sleep  in  one  once  and  there's  a  band  around  your 
head  when  you  wake  and  a  sinking  and  craving  at  your 
stomach;  you  don't  want  to  eat.  There's  nothing 
answers  it  but  whiskey.  And  in  the  basement  of  the 
building  you  may  find  a  smiling  fiend  in  immaculate 
white  apron,  ready  to  pour  the  bubbling  glass  full,  and 
usher  you  into  the  anteroom  of  hell." 

We  read  of  fifty -eight  babies  in  one  tenement.  Think 
of  the  thousands  born  of  drunkenness  and  lust,  whose 
welcome  into  the  world  is  a  curse,  whose  lullabies  are 
blasphemies,  whose  admonitions  are  kicks,  whose  ex- 
amples are  vice  and  crime  !  Bishop  South  says :  "A 
child  has  a  right  to  be  born,  and  not  damned  into  the 
world."  How  many  children  of  the  slums  by  an  awful 
heritage  from  both  father  and  mother  are  indeed 
"  damned  into  the  world,"  receive  their  life  and  live  it 
under  conditions  that  make  disease  of  body  and  soul  as 
certain  as  natural  law  !  What  a  mistake  many  children 
make  in  being  born  humans  instead  of  wild  beasts  !  A 
writer  in  The  Christian  Union1  says  that  in  two  foul 
alleys  of  New  York  the  death-rate  of  children  under 
five  years  had  reached  the  enormous  figure  of  seventy- 
three  per  cent.  Happy  children  that  died !  But  many 
children  of  the  slums  are  condemned  to  live. 

1  July  9,  1892. 


TUB  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  193 

"  Is  it  well  that  while  we  range  with  Science,  glorying  the  Time, 
City  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime  ? 

"  There  among  the  glooming  alleys  Progress  halts  on  palsied  feet, 
Crime  and  hunger  cast  our  maidens  by  the  thousand  on  the  street. 

"  There  the  master  scrimps  his  haggard  sempstress  of  her  daily  bread, 
There  a  single  sordid  attic  holds  the  living  and  the  dead. 

"  There  the  smould'ring  flre  of  fever  creeps  across  the  rotted  floor 
And  the  crowded  couch  of  incest  in  the  warrens  of  the  poor."  > 

No  wonder  that  General  Booth  exclaims:  "Talk 
about  Dante's  Hell,  and  all  the  horrors  and  cruelties  of 
the  torture-chamber  of  the  lost !  The  man  who  walks 
with  open  eyes  and  with  bleeding  heart  through  the 
shambles  of  our  civilization  needs  no  such  fantastic 
images  of  the  poet  to  teach  him  horror." a  When  one 
thinks  of  the  commingled  mass  of  venomous  filth  and 
seething  sin,  of  lust  and  drunkenness,  of  pauperism  and 
crime  of  every  sort,  which  characterize  the  slums,  he  is 
reminded  of  the  witches'  caldron  in  Macbeth : 

"Double,  double  toil  and  trouble; 
Fire  burn,  and  caldron  bubble." 

Professor  Huxley,  who  once  lived  as  a  medical  officer 
in  the  east  of  London,  spoke  out  of  his  personal  knowl- 
edge when  he  declared  that  the  surroundings  of  the 
savages  of  New  Guinea  were  much  more  conducive  to 
the  leading  of  a  decent  human  existence  than  those  in 
which  many  of  the  "  East  Enders"  live.3 

The  city  cannot  be  saved  while  such  conditions  exist. 
The  people  cannot  be  elevated  while  their  environment 
remains  unchanged.  A  much  more  robust  virtue  than 
exists  in  the  slums  would  yield  to  the  conditions  which 
there  prevail.  On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  very 
materially  change  the  environment  while  the  people 
rein: i in  unchanged.  Both  must  be  transformed  to- 
gether; while  moral  and  spiritual  influences  are 
brought  to  bear  on  the  people,  the  physical  causes  of 
their  degradation  must  be  removed.  The  sending  of 

1  Tennyson's  Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After. 
•  In  Darkest  England,  p.  18. 
:Ibid.  p.  158. 


194  THE  NEW  ERA. 

an  occasional  missionary  with  a  gospel  message  is  like 
trying  to  bail  out  the  Atlantic  with  a  thimble;  and  the 
preaching  of  a  half  gospel  in  elegant  up-town  churches 
does  not  have  the  remotest  tendency  to  transform  the 
slums — to  save  that  part  of  the  city  which  most  needs 
saving.  An  occasional  rescue  mission,  like  the  devoted 
city  missionary,  may  do  much  good  by  the  saving  of 
individuals  and  families,  but  the  awful  supply  of  ruined 
men  and  women  is  not  reduced.  A  missionary  may 
reasonably  hope  to  elevate  a  tribe  of  savages  in  a  gen- 
eration of  time,  because  every  one  brought  under  his 
influence  reinforces  that  influence  and  becomes  a 
helper.  Not  so  in  the  slums.  When  a  man  or  a  family 
are  reclaimed  they  move  out,  and  their  places  are 
quickly  taken  by  others  equally  needing  reclamation. 

We  shall  continue  to  have  the  slums  until  the  causes 
which  produce  them  are  removed. 

3.  Another  factor  of  the  dark  problem  before  us  is  the 
isolation  of  the  city,  which  is  no  less  real  than  that  of 
the  country. 

Where  men  are  most  crowded  together  they  are 
farthest  apart.  In  the  village  or  out  in  the  country 
everybody  knows  everybody  else,  and  personal  ac- 
quaintance makes  personal  interest  and  influence  easy. 
Misfortune  becomes  quickly  known  and  brings  with  it 
helpful  sympathy.  Moreover,  the  fact  that  a  man  is 
known  and  that  something  is  expected  of  him  helps 
wonderfully  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark.  We  knoAv  to 
what  an  extent  reputation  is  dependent  on  character, 
but  do  we  appreciate  to  how  great  an  extent  character 
depends  on  reputation?  Every  man  has  some  sort  of 
standing  where  he  is  known,  and  until  he  has  lost  all 
self-respect  desires  to  sustain  whatever  good  reputation 
he  possesses.  Let  him  go  among  strangers,  and  this 
external  restraint  is  lost. 

This  suggests  one  of  the  reasons,  and  possibly  the 
principal  one,  why  there  is  so  much  more  of  pauperism 
and  crime  in  a  city  of  500,000  than  among  an  equal 
number  of  people  scattered  in  small  towns  and  villages. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  195 

In  the  city  there  is  little  or  no  sense  of  neighborhood. 
You  may  be  separated  from  your  next  neighbor  by  only 
a  few  inches,  and  yet  for  years  never  see  his  face  or 
learn  his  name.  Mere  proximity  does  not  imply  social 
touch.  Association  is  determined  by  wealth,  occupa- 
tion, intelligence,  taste,  nationality,  church  connection, 
and  a  dozen  other  conditions.  Society  is,  therefore, 
divided  into  classes,  which  are  again  subdivided  into 
groups ;  and  between  these  there  is  no  intercourse  un- 
less it  be  of  a  business  character. 

And  classes  are  not  only  separated  socially  but  also 
geographically,  which  is  an  added  obstacle  to  city  evan- 
gelization. Water  communication  has  been  a  very 
important  factor  in  the  development  of  American 
cities.  Nearly  all  of  our  large  cities  have  an  ocean, 
lake,  or  river  front,  which  limits  their  expansion  in  one 
or  more  directions.  Wealthy  residences  and  churches 
retire  before  advancing  business,  while  the  poorer 
classes  must  remain  near  their  work;  so  that  there 
come  to  be  an  "up-town"  and  "down-town,"  an  "east 
side"  and  "west  side,"  which  are  far  separated  geo- 
graphically, and  vastly  farther  socially. 

There  are  still  other  causes  of  isolation,  which  are 
peculiarly  operative  in  American  cities.  The  three 
great  natural  bonds  which  bind  men  together  into 
nationalities  and  social  organizations  are  identity  of 
race,  of  language,  and  of  religion.  In  England,  how- 
ever widely  classes  may  be  separated  socially,  they  are 
generally  bound  'together  by  these  three  bonds.  The 
lord  and  the  peasant  boast  the  same  national  history, 
speak  the  same  tongue,  and  presumably  they  are  both 
Protestants.  But  the  great  heterogeneous  masses  of 
our  cities  are  separated  by  differences  of  blood,  of  lan- 
guage, and  of  religion.  Only  slowly  can  they  evolve 
the  conditions  which  make  it  possible  for  them  to  enter 
into  a  common  national  life,  to  say  nothing  of  closer 
social  relations. 

Thus  many  different  lines  of  cleavage  run  through 
our  cities,  dividing  them  into  isolated  fragments, 


196  THE  NEW  ERA. 

making  it  very  difficult,  if  not  quite  impossible,  for 
influences  which  would  otherwise  be  generally  perva 
give  to  reach  and  mould  these  varied  elements  and 
greatly  complicating  the  problem  of  evangelization. 

4.  Still  another  factor  of  the  problem  is  the  lack  of 
homes.  The  home  is  one  of  the  two  great  conservative  in- 
stitutions of  society,  and  is  peculiarly  needed  in  the  city. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  our  country  population 
live  in  homes  of  their  own,  but  of  our  urban  popula- 
tion only  a  very  small  proportion.  Real  estate  in  the 
city  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  many ;  and  as  population 
increases  and  land  values  rise,  the  proportion  of  those 
who  are  able  to  own  a  home  in  the  city  will  become 
constantly  less.  Investigation  would  probably  show 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  larger  the  city  the  smaller  would  be 
the  proportion  of  homes  in  it.  In  1890  New  York  had 
over  37,000  tenement-houses,  in  which  more  than  two 
thirds  of  the  population  of  the  city  lived.  Sixty -six  and 
three  fourths  per  cent  of  the  people  lived  over  twenty 
to  a  dwelling,  while  eighty-three  and  a  half  per  cent 
lived  ten  persons  or  more  to  a  dwelling.  Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott  says  that  there  are  wards  in  our  great  cities 
where  "  there  are  actually  more  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren to  the  square  foot  of  land  than  there  are  of  bodies 
in  any  cemetery  in  the  country."  Homes  cannot  exist 
under  such  conditions. 

Many  evil  influences  and  results  attend  a  life  of  rent- 
ing or  boarding,  one  of  which  is  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  our  city  population  moves  every  year  or 
oftener;  thus  social  and  church  relations,  if  any  exist, 
are  broken  up ;  and  not  being  looked  after,  many  who  had 
begun  to  attend  church  and  even  many  who  are  church 
members  fall  back  into  the  non-church-going  class. 

Furthermore,  the  city  is  depleted  of  homes  by  the 
removal  of  business  men  to  the  suburbs.  These  men 
are  usually  of  the  better  class;  and  the  elevating  in- 
fluences of  their  homes,  their  votes,  their  church  mem- 
bership, their  contributions  to  church  support;  and  their 
Christian  work  all  constitute  a  great  loss  to  the  city. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY. 


197 


In  the  "  City"  of  London,  that  is,  within  the  limits  of 
the  old  walls,  the  day  population  is  more  than  five  times 
the  night  population.1  There  is  a  similar  exodus  from 
our  great  cities  every  day  at  the  close  of  business  hours. 
The  salt  is  heaped  round  about  the  city  instead  of  being 
scattered  through  it,  and  what  remains  in  the  city  is, 
for  the  most  part,  massed  in  localities. 

5.  The  principal  remaining  factor  of  the  problem  is 
the  rapid  growth  of  the  city.  In  1880  the  number  of  our 
cities  having  a  population  of  8000  or  more  was  286 ;  in 
ten  years  the  number  had  leaped  up  to  443.  A  hundred 
years  ago  we  had  but  six.  Between  1870  and  1890  the 
number  of  cities  having  a  population  of  100,000  or  more 
doubled,  rising  from  fourteen  to  twenty-eight.  In  a 
number  of  states  nearly  all  the  increase  of  population 
from  1880  to  1890  was  in  the  cities.  Of  the  total  increase 
in  Maryland,  the  one  city  of  Baltimore  furnished  fully 
nineteen  twentieths.  The  following  table  gives  a  score 
of  cities  among  the  many  which  made  a  very  remark- 
able growth : 


Cities  and  Towns. 

Population. 

Increase. 

1880. 

1890. 

Number. 

Per  cent. 

A  1  1  ti  1st  i  in  .  Ala  

942 

3086 

9,876 
26,178 
1,099,850 
38.067 
106,713 
33,115 
10,338 
18,553 
10,818 
38.316 
182,716 
55,154 
50,395 
164,738 
140,452 
M,5M 
133,156 
42.837 
87.806 
19,989 
36,006 
98,858 

8,934 
23,092 
596,665 
27,709 
71,084 
29,632 
9.60-.' 
13,920 
9,706 
35.116 
76,931 
48,151 
39,212 
117,851 
109,934 
81,841 
91,683 
39,304 
30,440 
19,578 
34,908 
18,942 

948 
748 
118 
267 
199 
850 
1,304 
300 
872 
1,097 
137 
324 
350 
251 
860 
663 
221 
1,112 
413 
5.592 
3,179 
385 

Chicago,  111  

503,185 
10,868 
35,629 
3,483 
736 
4.633 
1,111 
3,200 
55,785 
13,003 

Dallas  Tex  

Denver,  Colo  

Dul  nth    Minn  

El  Paso,  Tf  x       

Fimllav.  Ohio  

IMVSNH,  Cal  

Kansas  City,  Kan  

K.'in-.-i--;  City,  Mo  

Uncoln,  Neb  

Ij<  >s  Angeles,  Cal  

11,188 

46,887 
30,518 
3,217 
41,4:3 
3,533 
7,366 
350 
1,098 
4,911 

Minneapolis,  Minn  

I  'uciil  ii,  Colo  

St.  Paul,  Minn  

Si-aitli'.   Wash  

Sioux  City,  Iowa  

Bpokane  Falls.  Waah  

Taronia,  Wash   

Wichita,  Kan  8      

The  Statesman's  Year  Book,  1890,  p.  18. 


198 


THE  NEW  ERA. 


Thus  it  appears  that  a  number  of  cities  of  considerable 
size  in  1880  increased  three  or  four  fold  in  ten  years, 
while  Chicago  more  than  doubled  her  population  of  half 
a  million.  Our  cities  taken  together  increased  61  per 
cent,  making  a  total  addition  to  our  urban  population 
of  nearly  seven  millions. 

Without  doubt  the  city  is  soon  to  control  the  nation 
by  the  dominance  of  numbers.  It  is  now,  as  it  has 
always  been,  the  centre  of  civilization,  and  the  source 
of  moulding  influences.  As  civilization  grows  less  mar- 
tial and  more  industrial,  wealth  becomes  an  increasingly 
important  factor,  and  wealth  is  being  massed  more  and 
more  in  the  city.  With  the  increase  of  popular  intelli- 
gence, the  press  is  exerting  an  ever -widening  influence. 
And  this  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  whose 
leaves  are  not  altogether  for  the  healing  of  the  nations, 
grows  in  the  city.  The  city  is  already,  and  is  to  become 
increasingly,  the  source  of  determinative  influences, 
bad  as  well  as  good.  It  becomes,  then,  a  question  of 
vital  importance  whether  the  growth  of  the  Christian 
church  in  the  city  is  keeping  pace  with  the  rapid  strides 
of  population. 

The  accompanying  table,  giving  the  relative  increase 
in  the  number  of  churches  and  the  population,  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  growth  of  the  city  has  gener- 
ally been  far  in  excess  of  church  provision.  If  all  our 
large  cities  had  been  included  in  the  investigation, 
there  is  no  reason  to  think  the  result  would  have  been 
substantially  different. 

NUMBER  OF  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES  TO  POPULATION. 


Boston. 

Brooklyn. 

Buffalo. 

Chicago. 

1840  

1  to  1,228  souls 

1  to  1,294  souls 

1  to  1,069  souls 

In  1836 
1  to  1,042  souls 

1850.  .  .  . 

'     1.200     ' 

"    2,105      ' 

'     1,509     " 

In  1851 
1  to  1,57?  souls 

I860  

'     1  368     ' 

"    2,051       ' 

'     1,690     " 

"    1,820     " 

1870.... 

'     1,898     ' 

"    2.052      ' 

.  '     2,402     " 

"    2,433      " 

1880  

'     2,311      '   ' 

"    2,442       ' 

'     2,216      " 

"    3,062     " 

1890  

'     2,581      ' 

"    2,890 

'     2,650     " 

"    8,601      " 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY. 


199 


Cincinnati. 

New  York. 

St.  Louis. 

1840  

1  to  1,449  souls 

1  to  1,992  souls 

In  1842 
1  to  2,500  souls 

1850..., 

4   1,581      " 

"   2,026     " 

In  1818 
1  to  2  100  souls 

I860  

'    2,064      " 

"   3294     " 

"    2  870      " 

1870..    . 

'    2.533      " 

"    3,510      " 

"    4  144     " 

1880  

'    1,932      " 

"    4  021      " 

"    3  130     " 

1890  

'    2,195     " 

"    4  301      "    * 

"    2  913      " 

*  According  to  the  census  taken  by  the  city  authorities,  there  was  one 
Protestant  church  to  every  4,930  inhabitants. 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  church  buildings 
and  church  memberships  are  larger  now  than  formerly, 
so  that  a  relative  decrease  in  the  number  of  churches 
is  not  conclusive  of  the  point  in  question.  Let  us  in- 
quire, therefore,  as  to  the  relative  increase  or  decrease 
in  the  number  of  church  members  in  our  cities.  As  the 
statistics  of  many  denominations  do  not  afford  the 
requisite  data,  our  inquiries  will  be  necessarily  limited 
to  six  important  denominations.1  Their  increase  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  population  in  fifty  of  our 
largest  cities  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 

In  1840, 12.67  inhabitants  to  one  communicant. 
'  1850,  15.30  4 

4  1860, 17.83  4 

'  1870,  19.05  4 

1  1880,  18.81  4 

'  1890,20.14 

That  is,  in  fifty  of  our  largest  cities  these  six  denomi- 
nations taken  together  have  grown  only  63  per  cent 
as  rapidly  as  the  population  during  the  past  half-cen- 
tury. Or  in  other  words,  relative  to  the  growth  of  the 
cities  these  churches  have  fallen  behind  about  37  per 
cent. 

1  The  Presbyterians,  Old  and  New  School,  when  separated;  the  Southern 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  the  Methodist  Episcopal,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  the  Congregationalists,  an,i  the  Dutch  Reformed. 

For  this  valuable  table  (except  only  the  figures  for  1890),  the  preparation 
of  which  no  doubt  involved  weeks  of  investigation,  I  am  indebted  to  an  ad- 
dress by  Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester  at  the  Washington  Conference  of  the  Evan 
gelical  Alliance,  1887. 


200  THE  NEW  ERA. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  if  the  facts  concerning  all 
the  Protestant  denominations  could  be  ascertained,  the 
showing  would  be  somewhat  improved.  Still  it  Avould 
seem  sufficiently  clear  that  the  cities  are  outgrowing 
the  churches. 

And  these  statistics  are  the  more  significant  when  we 
consider  that  while  the  membership  of  these  churches 
fell  from  one  in  15.30  of  the  population  of  these  fifty 
cities  in  1850  to  one  in  20.14  in  1890,  the  Protestant 
church  membership  of  the  whole  country  rose  from  one 
in  6.54  of  the  population  in  1850  to  one  in  4.65  in  1890. 

The  proportion  of  churches  to  population  is  from  one 
half  to  one  quarter  as  large  in  the  city  as  in  the  coun- 
try, and  the  proportion  ot  church  members  is  generally 
from  one  half  to  one  fifth  as  large.  Nor  is  this  all. 

Those  parts  of  the  city  which  need  the  most  churches 
have  the  fewest.  Archdeacon  Mackay-Smith  stated  in 
1890  that  there  was  a  district  in  New  York  containing  a 
larger  population  than  Detroit,  in  which  there  were 
substantially  no  Protestant  churches,  but  only  a  few 
chapels  and  three  Roman  Catholic  churches.  In  some 
wards  there  are  one  or  two  hundred  times  as  many 
saloons  as  churches.  In  the  Thirteenth  Ward  of 
Boston  with  upwards  of  22,000  souls  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle Protestant  church;  while  in  the  Eleventh— the 
Back  Bay — with  a  smaller  population,  there  are  thirty. 
Ten  of  the  wealthiest  wards  of  Cleveland,  having  a 
population  of  about  53,000,  contain  one  half  of  all  the 
Protestant  church  members  of  the  city ;  while  the  other 
half  is  scattered  through  thirty  wards,  having  a  popula- 
tion of  about  215,000.  The  worst  portions  of  our  cities 
are  fearfully  destitute  of  churches,  and  generally  grow- 
ing more  so.  It  was  stated  by  Dr.  A.  F.  Schauffler  in 
1888  that  during  the  twenty  yea«s  preceding  nearly 
200,000  people  had  moved  in  below  Fourteenth  Street, 
New  York,  and  seventeen  Protestant  churches  had 
moved  out.  One  Jewish  synagogue  and  two  Roman 
Catholic  churches  bad  been  added.  So  that,  counting 
churches  of  every  kind,  there  were  fourteen  less  than 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  CITY.  201 

there  were  twenty  years  before,  when  there  were  nearly 
200,000  fewer  people.  This  is  an  illustration  of  the  "  up- 
town "  movement  which  is  taking  place  in  all  our  large 
cities. 

Thus  we  have  seen  that  while  our  civilization  is  suf- 
fering a  greater  strain  in  the  city  than  elsewhere,  the 
two  great  conservative  institutions  of  society,  the 
church  and  the  home,  are  weaker  in  the  city  than  any- 
where else.  And  as  the  city  grows  larger  and  the  strain 
becomes  more  severe,  the  home  and  the  church  are 
growing  relatively  weaker. 

We  see  then  the  existing  situation  and  tendencies — 
a  mottled  population,  containing  the  worst  elements  of 
society,  far  removed  from  saving  Christian  influences 
and  peculiarly  difficult  to  reach  with  them,  growing 
rapidly  in  numbers,  political  influence,  and  commercial 
importance,  while  church  provision  is  steadily  becoming 
more  inadequate. 

What  is  to  be  the  outcome?  One  of  three  things. 
Present  tendencies  will  continue  until  our  cities  are 
literally  heathenized,  or  their  arrested  growth  will  en- 
able the  churches  to  regain  lost  ground,  or  the  churches 
will  awake  to  their  duty  and  their  opportunity.  To  ac- 
cept the  first  alternative  is  to  despair  of  our  country 
and  of  the  Kingdom:  to  entertain  the  thought  for  a 
moment  would  be  disloyalty  to  Christ.  Any  hope  of 
escape  by  the  second  alternative  must  be  based  on  igno- 
rance of  the  causes  of  this  great  world  movement 
toward  the  cities.  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that 
as  these  causes  are  permanent  this  movement  will  also 
be.  The  third  alternative,  then,  is  the  only  one  that 
can  be  accepted.  The  first  must  not  be,  the  second  can- 
not be,  the  third,  therefore,  shall  be.  The  churches  will 
awake. 

There  is  no  occasion  for  panic,  there  is  not  even  room 
for  doubt  as  to  the  issue.  The  city  is  to  be  saved;  it 
must  be  saved  before  the  Kingdom  can  fully  come ;  it, 
therefore,  can  be  saved.  "Ability  and  necessity  dwell 
neat  each  other,"  says  Pythagorean  wisdom;  "  I  can  do 


THE  NEW  ERA. 

all  things   through  Jesus  Christ,  which  strengthened 
me,"  exclaims  Christian  faith. 

The  first  city  was  built  by  the  first  murderer,  and 
crime  and  wretchedness  have  dwelt  in  the  city  ever 
since,  but  the  city  is  to  be  redeemed.  Every  genera- 
tion might  have  said  with  the  Psalmist,  "for  I  have 
seen  violence  and  strife  in  the  city ;  mischief  also  and 
sorrow  are  in  the  midst  of  it;"1  but  when  John  in 
apocalyptic  vision  sees  a  perfected  society,  a  heaven  on 
earth,  it  is  a  holy  city  which  inspires  his  prophecy. 
"  And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  anything  that 
defileth,  neither  whatsoever  worketh  abomination,  or 
maketh  a  lie ;"  "*  and  in  it  there  shall  be  "  neither  sorrow 
nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain,  for 
the  former  things  are  passed  away."  3 

»  Ps.  lv.  9, 10.  «  Rev.  xxL  37.  » Ibid.  xxi.  4. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE  MASSES  FROM  THE  CHURCH. 

" How  to  reach  the  masses"  has  been  a  standing  chal- 
lenge to  the  wisdom  of  religious  conventions  for  several 
years.  The  fact  of  a  separation  between  the  masses 
and  the  church  has  thus  been  generally  assumed.  It 
has,  however,  been  questioned  by  a  few  on  the  ground 
that  church  membership  is  increasing  more  rapidly 
than  the  population.  It  is  true  that  according  to  the 
best  available  statistics  the  Evangelical  communicants 
in  the  United  States  in  1800  were  7  per  cent  of  the  pop- 
ulation. In  1880  they  had  risen  to  20.07  per  cent;  and 
in  1890  to  21.42. 

Thus,  the  proportion  of  Evangelical  church  members 
to  the  population  was  three  times  as  large  in  1890  as  in 
1800.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  the  proportion 
of  the  population  attending  church  has  increased  in  like 
ratio,  nor  indeed  that  it  has  not  decreased. 

The  proportion  of  attendants  who  are  non-communi- 
cants has  been  greatly  reduced,  until  now  it  is  a  very 
narrow  margin.  The  great  body  of  church  attendants 
to-day  are  communicants  or  the  children  of  communi- 
cants, most  of  whom  in  due  time  will  become  members 
of  the  church.  The  gospel  has  brought  nearly  all  to 
acknowledge  its  claims  who  have  come  statedly  within 
the  sphere  of  the  pulpit's  influence. 

Thus,  it  has  been  quite  possible  for  the  church  to 
grow  more  rapidly  than  the  population  while  at  the 
same  time  it  was  losing  its  hold  on  the  multitude.  We 
have  been  known  as  a  church-going  people.  De  Tocque- 
ville  was  greatly  impressed  by  our  Sabbath  observance 

203 


204  THE  NEW  ERA. 

and  church  attendance.  Few  appreciate  to  what  extent 
we  have  now  become  a  non-church-going  people.  Mr, 
Moody  said  a  few  years  ago:  "The  gulf  between  the 
church  and  the  masses  is  growing  deeper,  wider,  and 
darker  every  hour."  The  reality  of  such  a  gulf  is  not  a 
matter  of  opinion.  Careful  investigations  have  been 
made  in  city  and  country  which  give  us  definite  knowl- 
edge. From  these  investigations,  made  in  some  hun- 
dreds of  towns  in  several  different  states,  it  appears 
that  somewhat  less  than  one  half  of  the  people  profess 
to  attend  church;  and  it  should  be  remembered  that 
many  claim  to  be  attendants  who  are  shown  by  a  little 
cross-questioning  not  to  have  been  inside  a  church  for 
years. 

In  Vermont,  a  few  years  ago,  forty -four  towns,  be- 
lieved to  be  above  the  average  of  the  state  in  church 
attendance,  were  carefully  canvassed.  All  were  counted 
attendants  who  professed  to  be,  and  all  children  and 
invalids  in  church-going  families  were  reckoned  attend- 
ants ;  and  yet  only  49  per  cent  of  the  people  found,  or 
44  per  cent  of  the  population  called  themselves  church- 
goers. Of  those  living  two  miles  or  more  from  church 
probably  not  more  than  30  per  cent  ever  attend.1 

Fifteen  counties  were  canvassed  in  Maine,  and  of 
133,445  families,  67,842  reported  themselves  as  not 
attending  any  church. 

Five  representative  counties  in  New  York  were  can- 
vassed, and  the  proportion  of  those  who  reported  them- 
selves non-attendants  was  about  the  same  as  in  Ver- 
mont. An  intelligent  and  careful  man  who  canvassed 
two  of  these  counties  said  that  he  did  not  believe  more 
than  25  per  cent  of  the  people  were  regular  attendants 
upon  church.  The  actual  attendance  at  the  Protestant 
churches  of  these  two  counties,  on  a  pleasant  day, 
was  found  to  be  23  per  cent  of  the  Protestant  popula 
tion. 


1  Address   of   Rev.  Henry  Fairbanks,  Ph.D.,  at  Boston   Conference  of 
Evangelical  Alliance,  1889. 


THE  MASSES  AND  THE  CHURCH.  205 

A  gentleman  who  had  canvassed  many  thousands  of 
families  in  the  South  told  me  that  he  found  about  the 
same  proportion  of  non-church-goers  there  as  exists  in 
the  North.  Doubtless  the  proportion  is  much  larger 
among  the  scattered  populations  of  the  West. 

When  city  congregations  are  counted  on  a  pleasant 
Sabbath  morning,  usually  about  one  fifth  of  the  popula- 
tion are  found  in  church.  In  an  Ohio  city,  which  has 
church  accommodations  for  about  one  half  its  inhabi- 
tants, a  count  on  a  beautiful  winter  morning  showed 
only  35  per  cent  of  the  sittings  occupied,  or  considerably 
less  than  one  fifth  of  the  population  in  church.  In  a 
Pennsylvania  town,  where  there  is  a  church  member- 
ship of  some  1300,  a  delightful  summer  Sabbath  found 
only  600  people  in  church,  all  told. 

If  the  many  towns  and  cities  which  have  been  inves- 
tigated in  various  states  are  fairly  representative  of  the 
whole  country,  we  may  infer  that  less  than  30  per  cent 
of  our  population  are  regular  attendants  upon  church, 
that  perhaps  20  per  cent  are  irregular  attendants,  while 
fully  one  half  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  or 
more  than  32,000,000,  never  attend  any  church  service, 
Protestant  or  Roman 'Catholic. 

Take  another  line  of  reasoning,  which  enables  *us  to 
form  an  intelligent  judgment  where  no  canvass  has 
been  made.  Of  course  not  all  church  attendants  are 
present  at  any  one  service.  If  we  knew  what  propor- 
tion of  the  whole  are  found  in  the  average  congregation, 
by  counting  the  latter  we  could  of  course  estimate  the 
former. 

In  a  large  number  of  towns  we  have  learned  by 
house-to-house  inquiry  how  many  persons  profess  to  be 
church  attendants,  and  the  actual  attendance  has  been 
taken  by  count.  In  New  York  state  it  was  found  that 
the  average  attendance  fell  a  trifle  below  one  half  the 
number  who  professed  to  be  church-goers.  In  Vermont 
the  average  attendance  was  found  to  be  61  per  cent  of 
the  number  who  profess  to  attend.  If  we  suppose  that 
the  church-going  population  is  twice  as  large  as  the 


206  THE  NEW  ERA. 

average  church  attendance,  it  would  probably  be  a 
generous  supposition. 

Now,  observe,  the  average  congregation  is  hardly  as 
large  as  the  church  membership.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  pastors  count  the  names  on  the  church  roll, 
but  usually  estimate  church  attendance,  and  almost 
invariably  overestimate  it.  An  actual  count  will  show 
that  in  the  average  church  the  average  congregati*  >n  is 
smaller  than  the  church  membership.  The  membership 
of  the  Evangelical  churches  in  the  United  States  is  21 
per  cent  of  the  entire  population,  and  the  average 
attendance  on  these  churches  is  somewhat  less.  We 
may,  therefore,  infer  that  the  whole  number  of  pro- 
fessed attendants  upon  these  churches  is  not  far  from 
40  per  cent  of  the  population.  If  we  should  count  all 
Roman  Catholic  communicants  as  church  attendants, 
this  would  raise  the  number  of  church-goers  to  only  a 
little  more  than  one  half  of  all  the  people.  But  a  large 
number  of  Roman  Catholics  fall  away  from  their 
church  in  the  United  States  and  attend  nowhere;  so 
that  by  this  process  of  reasoning  we  arrive  at  our 
former  conclusion  that  fully  one  half  of  the  population 
of  this  country  are  non-church-goers. 

We  must  not  forget  that  many  children  come  under 
religious  influence  in  the  Sunday-school  who  do  not 
attend  church;  but  Sunday-school  attendance  should 
not  be  deemed  an  equivalent  of  church  attendance.  So 
far  as  the  Sunday-school  is  made  a  substitute  for  the 
church  its  influence  is  mischievous  instead  of  beneficial. 
Usually,  the  habit  of  attending  church  is  formed  in 
childhood,  if  at  all.  Multitudes  of  youth  "graduate" 
from  the  Sunday-school  every  year,  and  most  of  them 
who  have  not  already  established  the  habit  of  church 
attendance  drop  into  the  great  non-church-going  class. 
That  class  contains  comparatively  few  who  attended 
church  regularly  in  childhood,  but  many  who  were 
once  Sunday-school  scholars. 

Our  estimate  that  50  per  cent  of  the  population  are 
church-goers  includes  all  who  are  only  occasional 


THE  MASSES  AND  THE  CHURCH.  207 

attendants,  and  the  many  who  profess  to  attend,  but 
never  do.  Probably  the  latter  are  quite  as  numerous  as 
the  number  of  Sunday-school  scholars  who  are  not 
church  attendants;  so  that  all  the  facts  within  our 
knowledge  indicate  that  about  one  half  of  our  popula- 
tion are  quite  estranged  from  the  church. 

Consider  now  that,  generally  speaking,  it  is  the  work- 
ingmen  and  the  farmers  on  whom  the  church  has  lost 
its  hold.  We  have  already  seen  that  somewhat  more 
than  one  half  of  our  rural  population  are  non-church- 
goers. A  large  proportion  of  those  who  do  attend  live 
in  the  villages,  while  probably  70  per  cent  of  those  who 
live  two  miles  from  church  (which  of  course  means 
farmers)  do  not  attend.  As  two  thirds  of  our  entire 
population  live  in  the  country  it  is  evident  that  farmers 
constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the  non-church-going 
class.  Most  of  the  remainder  are  the  workingmen  of 
the  cities.  Says  Mr.  Loomis  on  this  subject:  "It  will 
not  be  difficult  to  convince  those  who  are  acquainted 
with  the  life  of  our  cities  that  the  Protestant  churches, 
as  a  rule,  have  no  following  among  the  workingmen. 
Everybody  knows  it.  Go  into  an  ordinary  church  on 
Sunday  morning  and  you  see  lawyers,  physicians,  mer- 
chants, and  business  men  with  their  families;  you  see 
teachers,  salesmen,  and  clerks,  and  a  certain  proportion 
of  educated  mechanics;  but  the  workingman  and  his 
household  are  not  there.  It  is  doubtful  if  one  in  twenty 
of  the  average  congregation  in  English-speaking,  Prot- 
estant city  churches  fairly  belongs  to  this  class;  but 
granting  the  proportion  to  be  so  great  as  one  in  ten  or 
one  in  five,  even  then  you  would  have  two  thirds  of  the 
people  furnishing  only  one  tenth  or  one  fifth  of  the 
congregation."  ' 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  in  conversation  with  four 
Brooklyn  clergymen,  and  the  rector  of  one  of  the 
largest  Episcopal  churches  in  the  city  said:  "Gentle- 
men, I  would  like  to  know  if  my  church  is  exceptional. 

>  Rev.  S.  L.  Loomis,  "  Modern  Cities,"  p.  88. 


208  THE  NEW  ERA. 

We  have  not  a  single  workingman  in  our  membership." 
The  pastor  of  a  Dutch  Reformed  church  said:  "That  is 
true  of  mine."  The  pastor  of  a  large  Congregational 
church  said:  "We  have  one  carpenter  in  our  church, 
but  we  haven't  a  single  serving-man  or  a  serving- 
woman."  The  pastor  of  one  of  the  leading  Presbyterian 
churches  of  the  city  said:  "We  have  some  master- 
workmen  in  our  church,  who  employ  labor,  but  of  what 
would  be  called  workingmen  we  haven't  one  in  our 
church  or  congregation."  These  four  churches  had  at 
that  time  an  aggregate  membership  of  some  twenty -two 
hundred.  I  cannot  think  that  these  churches  are  fairly 
representative  of  city  churches  in  general ;  but  they  do 
represent  many,  and  show  that  a  condition  of  things  is 
common  which  ought  to  be  impossible. 

A  minister  told  me  that  he  found  in  one  shop  sixty 
men  (none  of  them  Eoman  Catholics),  only  six  of  whom 
ever  went  to  church  at  all.  In  another  shop,  out  of 
about  one  hundred  and  ten  Protestants  he  found  that 
only  seven  attended  any  church.  According  to  the 
careful  estimate  of  a  clergyman  in  one  of  the  largest 
New  England  factory  cities,  not  more  than  one  in  fifteen 
of  the  Protestant  operatives  in  that  city  ever  attends 
church.1 

A  few  years  ago,  Rev.  A.  H.  Bradford,  D.D.,  made 
investigations  touching  church  attendance  among  the 
poorer  classes  in  a  large  number  of  typical  manufac- 
turing towns,  such  as  Elizabeth,  Newark,  Paterson,  and 
Jersey  City,  in  New  Jersey;  New  York,  Brooklyn, 
Albany,  and  Buffalo,  in  New  York ;  Waterbury,  Norwich, 
and  New  Britain,  in  Connecticut ;  Lowell,  North  Abing- 
ton,  Lynn,  and  Fall  River,  in  Massachusetts.  His  in- 
quiries elicited  the  fact,  "  which  came  almost  without 
qualification,  that  church  neglect  among  the  poorer 
classes  is  rapidly  increasing."  "  Dr.  Washington  Glad- 
den said  in  1885:  "  In  my  own  congregation,  which  wor- 

>  The  Christian  Union,  April  24,  1890. 

'  Discussions  of  Inter-Denominational  Congress  in  the  Interest  of  City 
Evangelization.  Cranston  &  Stowe,  Cincinnati.  J886. 


THE  MASSES  AND   THE  CHURCH,  209 

ships  in  a  very  plain  church,  the  seats  of  which  are  free, 
in  a  neighborhood  easily  accessible  to  the  working- 
classes,  and  which  has  been  known  always  as  an  ex- 
tremely democratic  congregation,  I  find  only  about  one 
tenth  of  the  families  on  my  list  belonging  to  this  class. 
,  .  .  This  is  the  result  of  repeated  special  efforts  made 
in  the  interest  of  the  working-classes,  with  several 
courses  of  lectures  on  Sunday  evenings  for  their  bene- 
fit." ' 

In  this  connection  Dr.  Gladden  added:  "  How  is  it 
with  the  other  extreme  of  society  ?  In  this  same  city  I 
asked  one  of  the  best-informed  citizens  to  make  me  out 
a  list  of  fifty  of  the  leaders  of  business.  He  did  not 
know  my  reason  for  wishing  such  a  list,  but  after  it 
was  put  into  my  hands,  I  found  that  55  per  cent  of  these 
men  were  communicants  in  the  churches,  and  that  77 
per  cent  of  them  were  regular  attendants  upon  the 
churches.  A  large  proportion  of  the  capitalists  are 
more  or  less  closely  identified  with  the  churches,  while 
of  the  laborers  only  a  small  share  are  thus  identified, 
and  the  number  tends  to  decrease  rather  than  increase." 
A  similar  inquiry  in  an  eastern  city  of  about  40.000  in- 
habitants showed  that  three  fifths  of  the  leading  citizens 
were  church  members,  while  four  fifths  were  regular 
church  attendants. 

Of  course,  in  the  aggregate  there  are  many  wealthy 
people  and  many  intelligent  people  who  do  not  attend 
church,  and  many  of  the  laboring  classes  who  do;  but, 
speaking  broadly,  it  is  the  well-to-do  classes  which  con- 
stitute the  church-goers  and  the  poorer  classes,  the 
"  masses,"  which  constitute  the  non-church-goers. 

The  situation  in  England  seems  to  be  the  same. 
Canon  Farrar,  speaking  of  the  Church  of  England,  says : 
"Not  3  per  cent  of  the  working-classes,  who  represent 
the  great  mass  of  the  people,  are  regular  or  even  occa- 
sional communicants." "  And  at  an  anniversary  of  the 

1  Discussions  of  Inter-Denominational  Congress  in  the  Interest  of  City 
Evangelization.    Cranston  &  Stowe,  Cincinnati,  1886. 

2  "The  Salvation  Army,"  Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1891. 


210  THE  NEW  BRA. 

Open-air  Mission  in  Islington,  Shaftesbury  said  that  not 
more  than  2  per  cent  of  the  English  workingmen  attend 
any  place  of  worship,  Papal  or  Protestant. 

When  we  ask  after  the  causes  of  this  separation  be- 
tween the  church  and  the  masses,  we  find  at  once  that 
they  are  many  and  complex. 

(1)  Ideas  of  duty  are  not  so  strict  now  as  formerly, 
and  men,  therefore,  more  readily  yield  to  inclination. 
The  present  generation  of  young  people  have  had  a 
training  very  different  from  that  which  their  grand- 
parents or  even  their  parents  received.    In  most  fami- 
lies the  rod,  like  Aaron's  rod,  has  budded  and  brought 
forth  almonds  and  sugar-plums  of  all  sorts.     Children 
are  hired  and  coaxed  instead  of  being  commanded  and 
required,  and  accordingly  grow  up  to  consult  inclina- 
tion rather  than  obligation.    Attending  church  is  not 
now  commonly  considered  a  sacred  duty.    People  go,  if 
they  feel  like  it ;  and  for  a  great  variety  of  reasons  most 
people  do  not  feel  like  it. 

(2)  Prevalence  of  the  Continental  ideas  of  the  Sabbath, 
which  have  come  to  us  with  immigration,  have  helped 
to  reduce  church  attendance. 

(3)  The  rush  which  characterizes  modern,  and  especi- 
ally American,  living  brings  a  Sunday  lassitude  which 
affords  an  excuse  quite  sufficient  to  placate  many  an 
easy  conscience  for  neglecting  the  sanctuary. 

(4)  The  pulpit  once  afforded  the  people  most  of  their 
intellectual,  as  well  as  spiritual,  stimulus.    Now  it  must 
compete  with  books,  magazines,  and  papers,  and  especi- 
ally with  the  Sunday-morning  newspaper. 

(5)  The  Sunday-school,  notwithstanding  all  the  good 
it  has  done  and  is  doing,  by  being  considered   "the 
children's  church,"  has  interfered  with  the  formation  of 
churoh-going  habits  on  the  part  of  many  children,  and 
so  has  eventually  contributed  not  a  few  to  the  non- 
church-going  class. 

(6)  Our  almost  nomadic  habits  of  life  break  up  church 
relationships,    which   often   are   not   renewed    among 
strangers. 


THE  MASSES  AND  THE  CHURCH.  211 

(7)  A  wrong  conception  of  the  Christian  life  has  led 
laymen  to  hire  the  minister  to  do  their  Christian  work 
for  them.    In  the  cities,  where  churches  are  more  apt 
to  be  large,  the  minister  is  fully  occupied  with  his  duties 
to  his  congregation,  so  that  the  non-church-goers  are 
not  looked  after  at  all,  except  as  this  duty  is  occasion- 
ally laid  on  a  lonesome  city-missionary. 

(8)  Private  ownership  in  church  pews  has  an  influ- 
ence, though  it  is  probably  more  of  an  excuse  than  a 
reason. 

(9)  Church  dress  also  is  a  deterrent  to  workingmen 
and  their  families,  when  Sunday  best,  if  they  are  for- 
tunate enough  to  have  any,  is  such  as  to  make  them 
conspicuous  for  their  plain  appearance. 

(10)  But  more  important  than  any  of  these  causes  is 
an  indifference  which  too  often  rises  into  a  positive 
class  antipathy — an  indifference  on  the  part  both  of 
church-goers  and  of  non-church-goers. 

There  are  in  every  church  choice  men  and  women, 
just  the  material  to  make  a  heaven  of,  who  believe 
that  Jesus  Christ  died  for  every  man,  and  who  see  in 
every  man,  however  degraded  or  besotted  in  sin  and 
ignorance,  the  possibility  of  glorious  likeness  to  Christ ; 
men  and  women  who  long  and  labor  to  see  this  possible 
likeness  become  actual.  But  I  fear  that  a  very  large 
proportion  are  indifferent  or  worse  than  indifferent  in 
regard  to  reaching  the  masses  with  Christian  influence, 
under  the  impression  that  the  church  is  a  kind  of  re- 
ligious coterie  or  "steepled  club,"  existing  expressly 
for  "  our  sort  of  folks."  They  are  under  the  impression 
that  "our  sort  of  folks"  would  pretty  nearly  exhaust 
the  list  of  the  elect ;  they  are  willing  that  the  masses 
should  be  saved,  but  not  in  their  church  or  by  their  in- 
strumentality. 

In  the  weekly  prayer-meeting  of  a  wealthy  and  in- 
fluential New  England  church  a  gentleman  arose  and 
said:  "  I  went  recently  to  call  on  that  man  who,  at  the 
fire  the  other  day,  so  heroically  saved  the  lives  of  eight 
or  ten  persons  by  risking  his  own  life.  I  found  that  he 


212  THE  NEW  ERA. 

and  his  family  are  poor  and  that  they  attend  no  church. 
I  invited  him  to  our  church ;  and  now  I  hope,  brethren, 
when  they  come,  if  they  do  come,  you  will  give  them  a 
cordial  welcome,  and  make  room  for  them  in  your 
pews."  When  he  took  his  seat  the  wealthiest  and  most 
influential  man  in  the  church  arose  and  said:  "  I  don't 
want  any  such  man  or  family  in  my  pew ;  I  don't  want 
them  near  my  pew;  I  don't  want  them  in  this  church." 
The  pastor  of  that  church  was  angry  and  sinned  not, 
and  when  he  arose  to  rebuke  that  spirit  he  said:  "  I 
will  not  cease  my  efforts  until  yonder  door  swings  in  to 
the  lightest  touch  of  the  poorest  man  in  this  city."  But 
that  pastor,  though  a  man  of  great  ability  and  of  na- 
tional reputation,  was  presently  unseated. 

In  another  prayer-meeting  a  member  said:  "I  want 
your  prayers  for  a  man  who  has  been  a  slave  to  drink. 
.  .  .  Pray  for  him;  he's  a  gentleman;  he's  no  'bum/ 
He's  worth  $200,000,  and  he's  a  gentleman;  he's  worth 
saving  ! "  Preference  for  the  "man  with  a  gold  ring,  in 
goodly  apparel"  is  not  always  so  frankly  expressed, 
but  this  speaker  represents  a  large  class  who  ' '  have  the 
faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  respect  of  persons." 

There  is  a  church  in  the  Mississippi  valley  which  is 
"rich  and  increased  with  goods  and  hath  need  of  noth- 
ing"— nothing  except  some  Christianity — whose  pastor, 
it  is  said,  when  some  'working  girls  presented  them- 
selves for  membership,  discouraged  them,  not  on  the 
ground  that  the  evidence  of  their  Christian  experience 
was  unsatisfactory,  but  because  there  would  be  no 
"affinity,"  no  "congeniality,"  between  them  and  his 
flock.  It  was  that  same  church  of  which  the  story  is 
told  that  when  a  reformed  drunkard  presented  himself 
for  membership,  he  was  informed  by  one  of  the  officers 
that  he  believed  there  were  no  "vacancies  "  in  the  mem- 
bership of  the  church  just  at  that  time!  "I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in.  ...  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to 
me." 

A  clergyman  of  New  York  told  me  that  some  years 


THE  MASSES  AND  THE  CIIURGS.  213 

ago,  when  he  was  a  lay  member  of  a  down-town  church, 
he  started  out  with  a  friend,  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mand to  "go  out  into  the  highways,"  to  gather  up  the 
gamins  and  recruit  their  Sunday-school.  Their  efforts 
were  successful,  but  as  the  school  began  to  grow,  mem- 
bers of  the  church  began  to  be  frightened.  The  parents 
said:  "Why,  we  don't  want  that  kind  of  children  in 
our  Sunday-school.  If  you  are  going  to  bring  in 
such  children,  we  will  take  ours  and  go  home;" 
and  that  Christly  work  had  to  stop.  I  am  very 
glad  to  be  able  to  state  that  to-day  that  church  is 
dead.  It  was  dead  at  that  time,  but  it  is  buried  now. 
And  the  death  by  which  it  glorified  God  was  a  natural 
one.  For  a  church  is  like  a  tree.  The  tree  thrusts  its 
roots  down  into  the  soil  and  lives  and  grows  because  it 
assimilates  that  soil,  because  it  transforms  dead,  un- 
organized matter  into  living  fibre,  thus  lifting  it  up  and 
glorifying  it.  The  church,  in  its  membership,  thrusts 
its  roots  out  into  the  community  and  lives  by  assimilat- 
ing the  humanity  in  which  it  is  planted;  it  grows  by 
transforming  men,  dead  in  sin,  into  the  living  likeness 
of  Jesus  Christ,  thus  lifting  them  up  and  glorifying 
them.  And  when  church  or  tree  ceases  thus  to  assimi- 
late, ceases  thus  to  transform  death  into  life,  it  natu- 
rally begins  to  die — it  must  die  unless  it  is  trans- 
planted. 

Precisely  this  is  the  reason  why  so  many  churches 
are  moving  up-town  in  our  great  cities,  not  because 
there  are  no  perishing  men  all  around  them,  but  because 
the  class  for  which  they  exist  has  moved  up-town; 
showing  unmistakably  that  they  are  class  churches. 

On  the  other  hand,  workingmen  are  generally  in- 
different to  the  church  when  they  are  not  positively 
hostile  to  it,  and  believe  that  the  church  is  indifferent 
or  hostile  to  them.  In  the  investigation  made  by  Dr. 
Bradford  some  years  ago  and  referred  to  above,  every 
letter  received  from  a  workingman  indicated  that  men 
of  his  class  feel  that  they  are  not  wanted  in  the 
churches,  and  almost  every  letter  from  workers  among 


214  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  poor  recognized  that  the  poor  do  not  think  they  are 
welcome. 

The  Committee  on  the  Work  of  the  Churches  of  the 
Massachusetts  Congregational  Association  made  in- 
quiries as  to  the  attitude  of  the  workingmen  of  Massa- 
chusetts toward  the  churches.  Circulars  were  sent  to 
some  two  hundred  state  and  local  labor  leaders.  The 
many  failures  to  reply,  together  with  the  tone  of  curt 
refusals  to  answer  or  the  return  of  blank  circulars, 
indicated  anything  but  a  kindly  feeling  toward  the 
churches.  Most  of  the  replies  sent  expressed  the 
opinion  that  laboring  men  have  been  alienated  from  the 
churches.  ' '  The  causes  given  of  alienation  are  all 
modifications  of  the  charge  that  churches  and  preach- 
ers are  allied  with  and  subservient  to  the  'oppressing 
class.'  "  "  Seldom  is  the  church  just  enough  even  to  be 
neutral.  It  is  a  'mammonized'  institution;  it  belongs 
to  the  plutocrats,"  '  etc. 

Like  charges  are  common  at  labor  meetings.  At 
"  such  a  meeting  in  Union  Square,  New  York  City,  one  of 
the  foremost  representatives  of  organized  labor  in  the 
United  States,  a  man  of  national  reputation,  occupied 
some  twenty  minutes  in  pouring  out  a  lava  stream  of 
vituperation  against  the  church  and  its  ministers,  both 
Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic.  The  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  was  called  "that  scab  institution." 
"Cooper's  Institute  did  more  good  in  a  week  than  all 
the  New  York  churches  in  a  year,"  and  a  certain 
New  York  daily  paper  "represented  the  spirit  of  true 
brotherhood  more  in  a  single  issue  than  the  Christian 
ministers,  the  parasites  of  society,  could  do  in  an  age 
of  their  hired  mouthings."  And  these  utterances  were 
lustily  cheered  by  the  large  audience  of  workingmen. 

In  their  struggles,  workingmen  have  little  expecta- 
tion of  sympathy  or  help  from  the  churches.  They  do 
not  appreciate  the  fact  that,  apart  from  their  own  class, 


1  Rev.  John  P.  Coyle,  "  The  Churches  and  Labor  Unions,"  The  Forum, 
Aug.  1892. 


THE  MASSES  AND  TffE  CHURCH.  215 

most  of  those  who  are  seeking  to  secure  tho  rights  of 
labor  are  Christian  men,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them 
clergymen.  Still  it  is  not  strange  that  the  attitude  of  a 
majority  of  churches  and  ministers  should  be  supposed 
to  represent  the  whole.  Prof.  R.  T.  Ely  writes:1  "The 
secretary  of  the  Journeymen  Baker's  National  Union 
sent  out  appeals  to  the  clergy  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  to  preach  against  Sunday  labor  and  help 
them  to  abolish  it.  Five  hundred  circulars  were  sent 
out,  but  little  response  was  met  with.  In  a  reply  to  a 
query  as  to  their  success,  the  disgusted  secretary  sent 
this  answer  to  the  writer  of  the  present  paper :  '  Out  of 
the  five  hundred  circulars  sent  to  the  clergy  of  New 
York  and  Brooklyn  half  a  dozen  answered.  You  will 
have  a  hard  time,  Professor,  to  convince  the  toilers  of 
this  country  that  the  clergy  will  ever  do  anything  for 
them.'  " 

(11)  There  is  another  short  and  easy  explanation  of 
the  alienation  of  the  multitude  from  the  church,  viz., 
their  total  depravity.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  natural 
man  loveth  not  the  things  of  God,  but  the  workingman 
is  not  any  more  "natural"  than  his  employer.  De- 
pravity is  supposed  to  belong  naturally  to  all  classes 
alike.  If  separation  from  the  churches  characterized 
all  classes  in  like  degree  we  might  then  resort  to  the 
total  depravity  theory  to  account  for  it;  but  we  are 
trying  to  find  out  why  this  is  true  of  one  class  rather 
than  another.  And  we  cannot  apply  this  theory  to 
explain  the  estrangement  of  the  masses  unless  we 
assume,  as  Dr.  Gladden  says,  that  their  depravity  is 
"  considerably  more  than  total." 

In  like  manner  the  first  seven  causes  which  have 
been  enumerated  may  serve  to  explain  a  general  loosen- 
ing of  the  church -going  habit,  but  they  are  no  more 
applicable  to  workingmen  than  to  professional  men. 
They  do  not  explain  why  the  church  has  lost  its  hold  on 
one  class  rather  than  another.  The  next  three  causes 
mentioned  show  why  class  churches  cannot  reach  men 

i  "A  Programme  for  Labor  Reform,"  Tlie  Century,  April,  1890. 


216  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  another  class,  but  do  not  explain  why  this  other  class 
is  not  found  in  churches  of  its  own. 

Jesus  Christ  was  a  workingmaii.  The  common  people 
heard  him  gladly.  As  one  of  the  evidences  that  he  was 
indeed  the  Messiah  he  pointed  to  the  fact  that  he 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  poor ;  and  in  all  ages  and  in 
all  lands  the  poor  far  more  than  the  rich  have  flocked 
to  his  following.  But  now  it  is  the  well-to-do  who  have 
the  gospel  preached  to  them  and  who  hear  it  gladly, 
and  it  is  the  humbler  classes,  with  whose  life  Christ's 
lot  was  cast,  and  who  for  eighteen  centuries  have  been 
most  easily  attracted  to  him,  who  now  are  estranged 
from  his  church.  Once,  not  many  wise  men,  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  noble  were  called;  now,  not  many 
ignorant,  not  many  poor,  not  many  humble.  Surely, 
here  is  a  modern  marvel  not  usually  reckoned  among 
the  wonders  of  the  nineteenth  century — and  one  which 
demands  explanation. 

When  seeking  an  explanation  it  is  more  important  to 
find  the  cause  than  the  causes.  We  have  noted  some  of 
the  causes  of  the  separation  of  the  multitude  from  the 
church,  but  evidently  we  have  not  yet  laid  our  scalpel 
on  the  cause. 

When  those  classes  which  in  all  Christian  history 
have  been  the  most  susceptible  to  the  gospel  become  the 
least  susceptible  to  it,  there  is  something  wrong,  some- 
thing abnormal.  Has  human  nature  changed  ?  Has 
the  gospel  changed  ?  Is  it  not  worth  while  to  ask 
whether  indifference  or  antipathy  to  the  church  is 
identical  with  indifference  or  antipathy  to  the  gospel? 
And  when  that  question  has  been  answered  it  will  be  in 
order  to  inquire  whether  the  gospel  we  preach  is  really 
Christ's  gospel. 

Recent  investigators  have  stated  that  the  "German 
Social  Democrats,  though  hostile  to  official  Christianity, 
are  ready  to  avow  themselves  followers  of  Jesus." 
This  led  the  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Congrega- 
tional Association,  when  making  the  inquiries  already 
referred  to,  to  ask  whether  the  workingmen  who  disbe 


THE  MASSES  AND   THE  CHURCH.  217 

lieve  in  the  churches  also  disbelieve  in  Jesus.  "With 
few  exceptions  the  answers  are  that  belief  in  Jesus  is 
common;  and  this  testimony  is  borne  in  many  cases 
with  much  warmth.  ...  It  is  commonly  said  that  if  the 
churches  and  ministers  would  be  faithful  to  Jesus,  no 
alienation  would  exist." '  It  has  been  repeatedly  said  by 
workingmen  that  they  do  not  disbelieve  in  Christianity 
but  in  "  Churchianity '."  The  distinction  was  made  clear 
and  marked  by  that  great  audience  in  New  York  which 
applauded  the  name  of  Christ  and  hissed  a  mention  of 
the  church. 

We  need  not  stop  to  inquire  in  what  sense  men  who 
disbelieve  in  the  church  "  believe  in  Jesus."  This  dis- 
tinction, on  which  they  insist,  forbids  the  assumption 
that  the  masses  are  indifferent  or  hostile  to  the  gospel 
because  they  are  indifferent  or  hostile  to  the  church; 
and  forces  upon  us  the  question  whether  the  church 
really  teaches  and  exemplifies  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

The  church  teaches  the  gospel  of  personal  salvation ; 
but  as  we  have  already  seen  (Chapter  VI),  this  is  only 
one  half  of  Christ's  gospel.  He  preached  the  gospel  of 
the  Kingdom,  which  is  the  gospel  of  social  regeneration. 
He  taught  the  gospel  of  human  brotherhood  as  well  as 
that  of  divine  Fatherhood,  and  laid  down  the  law  of 
both ;  and  the  second  fundamental  law  of  Christ,  which 
is  the  organic  law  of  a  normal  society,  the  church  has 
neglected.  If  she  had  accepted  and  inculcated  and  ex- 
emplified this  teaching  of  Christ  as  the  practical  law  of 
every -day  life,  it  is  quite  safe  to  say  she  would  never 
have  lost  her  hold  on  the  masses. 

But  it  may  be  said,  This  is  no  new  neglect  on  the  part 
of  the  church.  If  it  is  indeed  the  cause  of  the  aliena- 
tion of  the  masses,  why  is  this  effect  so  modern,  why 
did  it  not  appear  many  centuries  ago  ?  For  the  reason 
that  in  its  progress  the  world  did  not  reach  the  socio- 
logical age  until  modern  times.  Christ's  second  law  was 
intended  to  solve  the  problems  which  rise  out  of  social 

1  Rev.  John  P.  Coyle,  The  Churches  aud  Labor  Unions,"  The  Forum, 
Aug.  1893. 


218  THE  NEW  ERA. 

relations.  Not  until  those  problems  began  to  attract 
general  attention  did.  men  generally  begin  to  see  and 
appreciate  the  fact  that  Christ's  teachings  had  not  been 
applied  to  social  organization,  and  that  the  church  had 
failed  to  teach  and  exemplify  Christ's  social  law. 

The  workingman,  even  though  he  never  goes  to 
church,  knows  that  Christ  taught  the  duty  of  loving 
our  neighbor  as  we  love  ourselves.  He  does  not  see  this 
duty  exemplified  by  the  church,  and  perhaps  makes  a 
sweeping  charge  of  insincerity  or  at  least  of  incon- 
sistency against  its  members.  He  misjudges  the  church 
because  he  does  not  know  it.  Almost  the  only  contact 
between  the  artisan  class  and  well-to-do  church  mem- 
bers is  contact  in  business,  and  business  which  is  in- 
tensely competitive,  i.e.,  selfish.  How  could  men  whose 
knowledge  of  Christians  is  gained  by  such  contact  avoid 
wrong  impressions  of  the  church  ?  They  do  not  know 
how  much  of  genuine  Christian  love  there  is  in  it.  To 
be  sure,  if  there  were  all  there  ought  to  be,  no  one  could 
help  knowing  it.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  a 
great  deal  which  finds  but  little  personal  expression. 
The  average  Christian  to-day  is  hiring  his  Christian 
work  done  by  proxy — by  societies,  institutions,  the 
minister,  the  city  missionary.  He  is  so  very  busy  that 
he  would  rather  give  his  money  than  his  time.  His 
interest  in  his  fellow-men,  therefore,  is  expressed 
through  various  organizations  which  make  a  business 
of  philanthropy.  Thus  our  Christian  work  has  become 
largely  institutional  instead  of  personal,  and,  therefore, 
largely  mechanical  instead  of  vital. 

There  is  an  enormous  amount  of  good  done  by  Chris- 
tian organizations  and  institutions,  and  a  great  deal  of 
Christian  self-denial  exercised  in  their  support,  but  they 
appeal  very  little  to  the  average  non-church-goer.  The 
dissatisfied  classes,  who  believe  that  they  are  not  re- 
ceiving their  just  dues,  that  they  are  wronged  by  the 
capitalist  class,  look  on  charitable  institutions  not  as  an 
expression  of  Christian  love,  but  as  a  mere  sop  to  Cer- 
berus. 


THE  MASSES  AND   THE  CHURCH.  219 

The  one  conclusive  proof  of  love  is  sacrifice ;  and  of 
this  the  world  sees  in  the  church  a  "plentiful  lack." 
It  is  only  self -giving  which  can  carry  conviction  to  the 
doubter ;  and  this  proof  of  love  is  rarely  seen  across  the 
chasm  which  separates  the  masses  from  the  church. 
When  the  church  goes  to  the  masses  with  proof  that  the 
brotherhood  of  man  is  not  simply  a  fine  phrase,  but  a 
living  reality,  both  taught  and  exemplified  by  the 
church,  the  alienation  of  the  masses  will  cease.  In  the 
thrilling  address  made  by  Dr.  Parkhurst  at  the  Chicker- 
ing  Hall  Conference  he  said:  "  You  know  how  the  Gulf 
Stream  works.  The  waters  of  the  Atlantic  are  heated 
in  the  Gulf  by  some  power  which  we  do  not  understand, 
but  which  is  a  divine  power.  That  heat  thrown  off, 
wonderfully  modifies  the  climate  of  all  the  northern 
portion  of  Europe,  and  there  is  wrought  the  recurrence 
of  the  cold  polar  waters,  which  return  to  the  Gulf  and 
are  there  heated.  So,  if  we  have  started  a  current  of 
Christian  life  that  works  out  from  the  church  in  the 
same  way  that  the  heated  waters  work  out  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  we  will  have  the  cold  waters  returning, 
coming  into  the  church,  and  in  their  turn  getting 
warmed.  We  have  no  circulation  now.  We  have  great 
coagulated  masses  of  piety  in  our  churches,  that  show 
no  blood-beat.  Once  start  the  circulation,  let  the  world 
see  that  the  church  has  a  heart  that  throwo  the  warm 
blood  out,  and  then  there  will  be  no  difficulty  about 
getting  the  cold  blood  in.  ...  We  have  occasions  for 
money ;  but  we  make  money  subserve  the  purposes  that 
only  love  can  subserve.  When  the  poor  leper  came  to 
the  Lord  to  be  healed,  you  might  have  expected  that 
the  Lord  would  say  to  Peter,  .  .  .  '  Peter,  you  go  touch 
that  fellow,  and  I'll  pay  you  for  it.'  Now  that  is  the 
way  we  run  a  good  deal  of  our  mission  work.  We  say, 
'  I  don't  quite  feel  like  going  down  there,  but  I  will 
draw  my  check,  and  I  will  pay  somebody  else  for  doing 
it.'  And  the  more  money  there  is  given  in  that  way, 
the  more  the  dirty,  sin-sick,  loathsome  recipients  of 
your  bounty  will  hate  the  church  and  all  that  pertains 


220  THE  NEW  ERA. 

to  it.  ...  We  have  got  to  give,  not  our  old  clothes,  not 
our  prayers.  Those  are  cheap.  You  can  kneel  down 
on  a  carpet  and  pray,  where  it  is  warm  and  comfortable. 
Not  our  soup — that  is  sometimes  very  cheap;  not  our 
money — a  stingy  man  will  give  money  when  he  refuses 
to  give  himself.  Just  so  soon  as  a  man  feels  that  you 
sit  down  alongside  of  him  in  loving  sympathy  with 
him,  notwithstanding  his  poor,  his  sick,  and  his  debased 
estate,  just  so  soon  you  begin  to  worm  your  way  into 
the  very  warmest,  most  determinative  spot  in  his  life." 

Our  modern  church  habits  and  methods  have  signally 
failed  to  manifest  a  personal  love  for  non-church-goers, 
and  it  is  not  strange  that  they  disbelieve  the  existence 
of  any  such  love.  Here,  then,  is  the  great  cause  of  the 
alienation  of  the  multitude,  viz.,  the  fact  that  the 
church  has  failed  to  teach  and  to  exemplify  the  gospel 
of  human  brotherhood. 

The  fact  of  the  separation  of  the  masses  from  the 
church  has  been  shown,  together  with  its  cause.  Per- 
mit a  word  on  the  significance  of  that  fact. 

It  has  a  spiritual  significance  which  is  familiar  to 
every  Christian,  but  which  is  appreciated  by  none.  It 
is  not,  however,  to  this  that  I  desire  especially  to  call 
attention.  There  is  a  great  discontented  class ;  there  is 
a  great  non-church-going  class.  Let  us  now  weigh  the 
fact  that  these  two  classes  are  substantially  one  and  the 
same.  It  is  the  masses  who  are  discontented ;  it  is  the 
masses  who  rule  and  who  will  determine  our  future; 
it  is  the  masses  who  constitute  the  non-church-goers. 

Let  us  again  remind  ourselves  that  in  this  country 
the  masses  are  the  sources  of  power,  the  arbiters  of 
destiny,  the  supreme  judicature.  We  are  concerned 
not  with  aristocracies  or  kings,  but  with  the  people. 
And  when  we  say  that  the  people  rule,  that  means  that 
mere  numbers  rule,  that  the  complex  and  difficult 
questions  of  government  and  statesmanship,  questions 
on  whose  answers  may  depend  the  rights  and  well- 
being  of  millions  and  even  the  future  of  civilization — 
that  such  questions  are  settled  ultimately  not  by  the 


THE  MASSES  AND   THE  CHURCH.  221 

intelligence  and  conscience  of  the  wisest  and  best,  but 
by  mere  majorities. 

Not  only  do  we  find  industrious,  intelligent  and  law- 
abiding  workingmeii  and  farmers  among  the  non- 
church-goers,  but  also  the  criminal  classes,  the  army  of 
tramps  and  vagrants  and  a  larger  army  of  saloon 
keepers,  the  illiterate,  the  venders  of  votes  and  the 
anarchists,  who  at  the  last  presidential  election  cast 
twice  as  many  votes  in  New  York  City  as  did  the  pro- 
hibitionists. The  dangerous  elements  in  general  are 
found  in  the  non-church-going  multitude. 

Evidently,  if  the  church  is  to  purify  society,  if  she  is 
to  solve  the  great  problems  of  the  times,  if  she  is  to 
mould  the  civilization  of  the  future,  if  she  is  to  accom- 
plish her  mission  by  ushering  in  the  full  coming  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  then  the  great  body  of  her  work,  yet 
to  be  done,  is  to  be  found  in  the  noii-church-going  class, 
and  she  is  separated  from  her  greatest  and  most  urgent 
work  by  a  deep  and  wide  chasm. 

She  is  spending  her  energies  on  the  best  elements  of 
society,  her  time  is  given  to  teaching  the  most  intelli- 
gent, she  is  medicating  the  healthiest,  she  is  salting  the 
salt,  while  the  determinating  masses,  which  include  the 
most  ignorant  and  vicious,  the  poorest  and  most  de- 
graded, are  alike  beyond  her  influence  and  her  effort. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

WE  have  inherited  from,  the  Latin  fathers  a  vicious 
dualism  which  runs  throughout  life  a  line  of  cleavage, 
separating  it  into  the  sacred  and  the  secular. 

In  mediaeval  times  the  common  was  profane.  That 
alone  was  sacred  which  was  especially  set  apart  to 
religious  uses.  The  church  was  sacred,  the  state  secu- 
lar. The  occupation  of  the  clergy  was  holy,  and  they 
were  under  obligations  to  lead  holy  lives;  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  laity,  the  common  activities  of  the  world, 
were  profane,  and  the  people  were  expected  to  live  lives 
more  or  less  worldly.  They  were,  to  be  sure,  under 
obligations  to  give  a  part  of  their  time  and  substance  to 
religion,  but  the  remainder  was  their  own,  to  be  applied 
to  secular  uses. 

Nature  was  profane.  Instead  of  being  a  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Creator,  the  natural  was  so  incompatible 
with  the  divine  that  God  could  reveal  himself  in  nature 
only  by  setting  aside  or  overriding  nature's  laws. 

Soul  and  body  were  in  conflict.  Manicheism,  which 
attributed  the  visible  world  to  the  devil,  and  looked  on 
the  body  with  contempt  and  hatred,  continued  to  exert 
a  wide  influence  for  many  centuries  after  it  had  been 
declared  heretical  by  the  church.  Natural  appetites 
were  unholy,  and  the  body  must  be  depleted  in  order  to 
cultivate  the  spiritual  life. 

This  tendency  to  separate  the  sacred  from  the  secular 
culminated  in  monasticism,  which  was  an  attempt  to 
overcome  the  world  by  running  away  from  it. 

222 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  223 

Luther  saw  clearly  that  all  of  these  distinctions  were 
false,  and,  according  to  Bunsen,  all  of  the  reformers  of 
the  sixteenth  century  agreed  with  Luther  that  there 
was  no  difference  between  religious  and  secular  acts. ' 
But  the  Reformation  failed  to  free  the  church  entirely 
from  these  misconceptions,  and  we  still  talk  of  sacred 
and  profane  history,  of  religious  and  secular  duties,  of 
sacred  and  secular  callings.  The  church  is  content  to 
accept  as  her  province  only  a  small  part  of  the  life 
of  men.  She  claims  the  "sacred"  as  her  sphere.  The 
"secular"  life  must  of  course  be  lived  under  the  re- 
strictions of  the  moral  law;  but  such  a  life  is  not  sup- 
posed to  be  religious,  and  is  held  to  be  quite  foreign  to 
the  sphere  of  the  church. 

This  meagre  conception  of  her  sphere,  and  hence  of 
her  mission,  has  at  the  same  time  belittled  and  per- 
verted the  life  and  influence  of  the  church.  Next  to  a 
mighty  spiritual  quickening,  which  is  of  supreme  im- 
portance to  the  church  in  every  age,  her  greatest  need 
to-day  is  a  broader,  truer  conception  of  her  mission. 
To  gain  this  broader,  truer  view  let  her  go  back  to  her 
Master  and  study  his  example  and  teaching. 

He  did  not  begin  to  preach  until  he  was  thirty. 
Would  any  venture  to  say  that  only  the  three  years  of 
Christ's  public  ministry  were  sacred  and  that  thirty 
years  of  his  life  were  secular  ?  Was  he  any  less  divine, 
any  less  beautiful  in  the  eyes  of  the  Father,  any  less 
consecrated  to  his  great  mission,  while  at  the  carpen- 
ter's bench  than  when  preaching  in  the  synagogue  or 
on  the  mount  ?  It  was  eighteen  years  before  he  entered 
on  his  public  ministry  that  he  said,  "  Wist  ye  not  that 
I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ? " 

Now  Christ  was  a  revelation  not  only  of  God  to  man, 
but  of  man  to  himself.  As  a  man,  he  was  a  revelation 
of  what  man  was  intended  to  be,  ought  to  be,  may  be, 
will  be  when  perfected.  The  thoroughly  Christianized 
man,  whatever  his  occupation,  will  always  be  about  his 

1  Allen's  Continuity  of  Christian  Thought,  p.  274. 


224  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Father's  business  ;  will  live  in  constant  obedience  to  the 
command,  "Whether  therefore  ye  eat,  or  drink,  or 
whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God,"  ' — words 
which  are  absolutely  all-inclusive,  which  embrace  the 
entire  circle  of  human  activities,  and  which,  therefore, 
leave  no  room  for  the  secular. 

After  Christ  entered  on  his  public  ministry,  he  did 
not  confine  himself  to  preaching  the  gospel;  he  minis- 
tered to  bodies  as  well  as  to  souls.  The  blind  received 
their  sight,  the  lame  walked,  the  lepers  were  cleansed, 
the  deaf  heard,  the  dead  were  raised  up.  He  went 
about  "healing  every  sickness  and  every  disease 
among  the  people"  as  well  as  "teaching  in  their  syna- 
gogues, and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom."  * 
He  had  compassion  on  the  multitude,  not  only  because 
they  were  spiritually  without  a  shepherd,3  but  also  be- 
cause they  had  nothing  to  eat.*  When  after  his  resur- 
rection he  appeared  to  his  disciples  on  the  shore  of 
Galilee,  his  first  word  was,  "  Children,  have  ye  any 
meat?1'  And  this  inquiry  was  not  with  reference  to 
his  own  wants,  but  theirs.  He  told  them  where  to  cast 
their  net  that  their  night's  labors  might  not  prove  fruit- 
less, and  when  they  landed,  tired  and  hungry,  as  fisher- 
men are  apt  to  be,  they  found  a  fire  and  a  prepared 
meal  awaiting  them.5  Some  struggling  men  think  that 
if  Christ  were  walking  among  us  in  the  flesh  to-day,  it 
would  be  just  like  him  to  ask  the  toilers,  as  of  old, 
"Have  ye  any  meat?"  Why  should  he  not  show  the 
same  interest  in  men's  physical  well-being  now  that  he 
did  then?  "Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  for  ever."  6 

His  representation  of  the  last  judgment  is  for  the 
instruction  of  all  generations,  and  indicates  the  one 
ground  of  judgment  for  all.  Christ  represents  that  in 
the  person  of  his  fellow-men  he  was  hungry,  thirsty,  a 
stranger,  naked,  sick,  and  in  prison.  And  in  their 


>lCor.  x.31.  «Matt.  ix.  35.  3  Ibid  36 

«Matt.  xv.  83.  »Johnxxi.  s-13.  «  Heb.  xiii.  8. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  225 

person  his  bodily  wants  had  been  ministered  to  or 
neglected.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  this  is  the  one 
ground  he  names  on  which  all  the  nations  are  to  be 
approved  or  condemned.1 

Evidently  Christ  was  interested  in  the  physical  as 
well  as  the  spiritual,  and  both  by  teaching  and  example 
emphasized  the  importance  of  caring  for  the  body. 
Either  the  common  idea  that  "Eeligion  concerns  the 
relation  in  which  the  soul  stands  to  God " 2  is  very 
inadequate,  or  much  of  Christ's  life  and  teaching  was 
not  religious,  and  the  final  judgment  will  not  be  a 
religious  court.  One  thing  is  "certain:  we  must  either 
consent  to  drop  the  old  distinction  between  the  sacred 
and  the  secular,  or  admit  that  the  perfect  life  was  most 
of  it  secular. 

Christ  fed  the  multitude  and  healed  their  diseases 
because  he  loved  men,  and  that  in  most  cases  was  the 
natural  and  most  convincing  way  to  show  his  love. 
Men  must  be  reached  on  the  plane  on  which  they  live. 
The  lives  of  the  multitude  are  chiefly  physical.  Though 
spiritual  needs  are  the  deepest  they  rise  into  conscious 
wants  only  occasionally,  while  physical  needs  make 
themselves  felt  daily  and  hourly.  Hunger  and  cold 
and  pain  are  far  more  real  to  the  many  than  the  sense 
of  sin  or  high  spiritual  aspirations..  If,  then,  Christ 
was  to  convince  men  of  his  love,  he  must  do  it  by  meet- 
ing needs  which  they  actually  felt. 

And  Christ's  example  is  a  good  one  for  his  church  to 
follow.  If  she  is  to  reach  the  masses,  she  must  do  it  on 
the  plane  where  the  masses  live.  If  she  would  con- 
vince them  of  her  love  (of  which  they  sorely  need  to  be 
convinced),  she  must  do  it  in  ways  that  appeal  to  them, 
she  must  deal  with  things  which  they  regard  as  real. 
And  having  laid  hold  of  men  on  the  physical  plane,  she 
can  then  lead  them  up  to  the  spiritual. 

While  the  old  distinction  of  "sacred"  and  "secular" 


>  Matt.  xxv.  31-48. 

»  Rev.  M.  J.  Savage,  in  The  Arena  for  April,  1890,  p.  510. 


226  THE  NEW  ERA. 

is  thoroughly  false  and  mischievous,  it  is  not  altogether 
a  distinction  without  a  difference.  There  is  a  differ- 
ence which  is  misinterpreted  and  misnamed.  The  root 
differs  from  its  fruit,  but  that  difference  does  not  war- 
rant our  saying  that  the  one  belongs  to  the  husbandman 
and  the  other  does  not,  that  the  one  serves  him  and  the 
other  does  not,  that  the  one  has  much  value  and  the 
other  little  or  none.  They  are  alike  his  and  they  alike 
serve,  only  the  one  serves  more  directly  than  the  other. 
The  root  is  valuable  because  it  ministers  to  the  fruit 
which  ministers  to  man ;  and  man  is  serving  himself  as 
truly  when  cultivating  the  root  as  when  plucking  and 
eating  the  fruit. 

Now  the  difference  between  the  physical  and  the 
spiritual  is  real,  but  this  fact  of  difference  does  not 
justify  the  distinction  of  secular  and  sacred.  The 
physical  exists  for  the  spiritual  and  from  it  derives  its 
dignity  and  worth,  but  this  does  not  warrant  our  saying 
that  one  belongs  to  God  or  serves  him  any  more  truly 
than  the  other.  Some  things  minister  more  directly 
than  others  to  spiritual  results,  some  uses  are  higher 
and  some  lower,  but  every  lawful  thing  is  a  step  some- 
where in  the  great  stairway  up  to  God.  Whatever  has 
no  place  in  that  stairway  is  not  "secular,"  but  unholy, 
and  has  no  right  to  be. 

The  old  conception  that  the  sphere  of  the  church  is 
the  sacred  and  that  she  is  to  deal  only  with  the  soul 
may  be  accepted,  provided  we  broaden  our  view  enough 
to  see  that  all  of  God's  creations  are  sacred,  and  that  all 
pertain  to  the  soul.  Walt  Whitman's  poems  have  a 
"marked  physiological  stamp,"  and  yet  he  writes: 

"  I  will  not  make  a  poem,  nor  the  least  part  of  a  poem,  but  has  reference  to 

the  soul. 

Because,  having  looked  at  the  objects  of  the  universe,  I  find  there  is  no  one, 
nor  any  particle  of  one,  but  has  reference  to  the  soul." 

When  the  church  sees  this  truth  she  will  enlarge  her 
conception  of  her  mission. 

Because  the  creation  is  a  universe,  which  word  means 
one  system  or  whole,  all  created  things  are  marvellously 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  227 

and  mysteriously  interrelated.  I  suspect  that  the  whole 
of  any  one  truth  is  all  truth.  This  was  recognized  by 
Tennyson  when  he  sang : 

"  Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 

I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies  : — 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower— but  if  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 

I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is." 

If  the  view  taken  in  Chapter  II  is  correct,  the  divine 
purpose,  in  the  fulfilment  of  which  all  nature  and 
history  are  at  length  to  find  their  interpretation  and 
unity,  is  the  final  and  triumphant  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Now  this  kingdom  is  not  a  divided  realm 
("every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought  to 
desolation  "  ') ;  no  portion  of  it  is  beyond  God's  authority, 
outside  his  plan.  It  would  be  unworthy  of  infinite 
wisdom  not  to  have  a  plan  which  included  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  universe.  The  "plan  of  salvation'1  is 
vastly  more  comprehensive  than  some  have  supposed. 
It  is  a  plan  for  perfecting  the  race,  and  includes  not  only 
spiritual  facts  and  forces,  but  all  of  nature's  resources, 
laws,  and  processes.  "His  kingdom  ruleth  over  all."2 
Coal-fields  and  climates,  latitude  and  longitude,  moun- 
tain ranges  and  coast  lines,  the  Gulf  Stream  and  the 
equinox,  as  really  enter  into  that  plan  as  do  the  birth 
and  death  of  Christ. 

And  all  nature  is  obedient  to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom ; 
only  man  is  rebellious.  When  all  mankind  by  perfect 
love  to  God  are  brought  into  perfect  harmony  with  his 
will  and,  therefore,  into  perfect  harmony  with  his  laws, 
which  are  an  expression  of  his  will,  the  race  will  then 
be  perfected,  and  "all  things"  will  "work  together  for 
good  "  to  all — which  will  be  the  Kingdom  fully  come. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  simply 
a  materialistic  paradise.  It  is  "not  meat  and  drink," 
that  is,  does  not  consist  in  these  things;  " but  righteous- 

i  Matt.  xil.  86.  *  Psa.  ciil.  18. 


228  THE  NEW  ERA. 

ness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  '  It  is  the 
spiritual  which  has  essential  and  absolute  value ;  all  else 
is  relative.  Still  the  Creator  certainly  places  a  high 
estimate  on  the  importance  of  the  physical,  for  he  spent 
unmeasured  time  and  exercised  infinite  skill  in  perfect- 
ing the  physical  conditions  of  spiritual  life ;  and  surely 
the  church  will  not  err  in  placing  a  like  estimate  on  the 
importance  of  those  conditions.  If  for  no  other  reason, 
the  physical  must  be  respected  and  studied  and  per- 
fected because  of  the  subtle  and  powerful  influence  both 
for  good  and  evil  which  it  exerts  over  the  spiritual. 
We  may  no  longer  despise  the  body  or  look  upon  it  as 
the  enemy  of  the  soul  instead  of  its  servant  and  helper, 
its  medium  and  instrument.  Science  has  revealed  the 
interdependence  of  the  two.  We  now  know  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  more  nearly  normal  the  physical 
life  is,  the  more  nearly  normal  will  be  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  life.  We  now  know  that  the  race  cannot 
be  perfected  without  the  perfecting  of  the  body.  Society 
cannot  be  entirely  saved  until  man  has  been  saved 
physically. 

And  as  the  body  was  made  subservient  to  the  soul,  so 
the  material  world,  which  is  the  bodily  life  of  our  civil- 
ization, was  intended  to  serve  the  spiritual.  The  two 
are  not  enemies,  but  allies.  Few  men  appreciate  to  what 
extent  intellectual  and  moral  progress  depend  on  ma- 
terial conditions.  But  students  of  civilization  are  be- 
ginning to  see  that  the  natural  order  of  growth  in 
society  as  well  as  in  the  individual  is  first  the  physical 
or  material  and  afterward  the  intellectual  and  spiritual. 
Says  Mr.  William  G.  Sumner  of  Yale  University:  "  The 
notion  that  progress  proceeds  in  the  first  instance  from 
intellectual  or  moral  stimuli,  or  that  progress  is  really 
something  in  the  world  of  thought,  and  not  of  sense,  has 
led  to  the  most  disappointing  and  abortive  efforts  to 
teach  and  '  elevate '  inferior  races  or  neglected  classes. 
The  ancestors  of  the  present  civilized  races  did  not  win 

» Rom.  xiv.  17. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  229 

their  civilization  by  any  such  path.  They  built  it  up 
through  centuries  of  toil  from  a  foundation  of  surplus 
material  means,  which  they  won  through  improvements 
in  the  industrial  arts  and  in  the  economic  organiza- 
tion." ' 

In  the  scale  of  being,  the  nobler  the  rank  the  later 
and  more  slowly  does  it  mature,  so  that  the  higher 
naturally  rests  on  the  lower  and  is  necessarily  condi- 
tioned by  it.  This  being  true,  an  intelligent  interest  in 
the  moral  or  intellectual  progress  of  the  race  necessi- 
tates interest  in  men's  material  progress.  If  the  church 
is  to  labor  intelligently  for  the  elevation  of  the  spiritual 
life,  she  must  be  interested  in  all  that  pertains  to  the 
physical  life.  To  be  concerned  for  the  former  and  in- 
different as  to  the  latter  is  like  being  anxious  for  a 
crop  but  indifferent  as  to  the  soil  in  which  it  is  to  grow, 
— careful  of  effects,  but  careless  of  causes. 

We  shall  not  gain  a  true  view  of  the  meaning  and 
value,  the  dignity  and  beauty,  of  the  physical,  nor  shall 
we  intelligently  cultivate  the  spiritual  until  we  under- 
stand how  intimately  the  two  are  related  in  the  king- 
dom of  Christ.  Indeed,  as  President  John  Bascom  has 
said:  "The  true  synthesis  of  the  universe  of  God, 
physical  and  spiritual,  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."" 
The  Master  taught  us  to  pray:  "Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  in  earth."  3  When 
the  latter  petition  is  fully  answered,  then  the  Kingdom 
will  have  fully  come.  If  we  look  more  closely  at  this 
second  petition  and  perceive  the  largeness  of  its  mean- 
ing, we  shall  better  understand  the  place  of  the  physical 
in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

What  we  call  natural  laws  are  expressions  of  the  will 
of  nature's  Creator.  All  of  the  laws  given  to  guide  us 
in  our  complex  relations  to  nature  and  to  our  fellow- 
men,  whether  revealed  by  science  or  by  the  progress  of 
civilization,  whether  pertaining  to  matter,  or  to  our 


1  Tlie  Independent,  Jan.  15, 1891. 

»  Sociology,  p.  264.  »  Luke  xi  2. 


230  THE  NEW  ERA. 

social,  political,  industrial,  or  commercial  relations,  all 
are  God's  laws,  as  truly  as  if  written  on  tables  of  stone 
and  delivered  to  us  by  a  second  Moses.  And  all  of 
God's  laws,  physical  as  well  as  spiritual,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  are  laws  of  the  Kingdom,  and 
were  undoubtedly  intended  to  minister  to  the  perfection 
and  blessedness  of  its  citizens.  What  God  desires  for 
the  race,  the  end  of  all  his  patient  discipline,  is  that  men 
live  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  the  laws  of  their  being. 
These  laws  are  an  expression  of  his  infinite  love  guided 
by  his  infinite  wisdom.  They  require  only  what  our 
highest  good  requires ;  they  forbid  only  what  our  high- 
est good  forbids.  They  are  the  best  possible  paths  to 
the  highest  possible  blessedness.  As  Burke  said:  "Law 
is  beneficence  acting  by  rule."  All  the  ills  of  life, 
bodily,  mental,  moral,  social,  political,  industrial,  finan- 
cial, and  every  other  possible  sort,  are  the  thorns  which 
God  has  set  along  these  paths  to  turn  us  back  when  we 
wander  from  them.  These  ills  of  life  are  the  penalties 
of  violated  law — penalties  appointed  by  God's  far-seeing 
love  as  truly  as  were  the  paths  of  law  which  these 
penalties  were  set  to  guard.  Just  so  far  as  men  walk  in 
these  God-appointed  paths,  the  ills  of  life  disappear. 

God's  laws  are  laid  upon  all  created  existence,  from 
the  ultimate  particle  of  matter  up  to  the  highest  intelli- 
gence ;  and  the  higher  the  form  of  existence,  the  greater 
is  the  number  of  laws  to  which  it  is  subject.  More 
laws  lay  hold  of  the  flower  than  of  the  "  crannied  wall " 
from  which  it  is  plucked,  and  more  lay  hold  of  the 
brute  than  of  the  flower,  and  more  lay  hold  of  the  man 
than  of  the  brute;  and  the  more  highly  man  is  de- 
veloped, the  greater  will  be  the  number  of  laws  to 
which  he  is  subject.  His  progress  depends  on  his 
obedience  to  law.  Every  law  discovered  and  obeyed 
lifts  him  higher.  What  is  the  progress  of  science  but 
the  discovery  of  God's  laws  ?  And  what  is  wisdom  but 
their  application  to  life  ?  What  we  call  our  conquest  of 
nature  is  only  obedience  to  nature's  laws.  Here  is  a 
paradox  :  disobey  nature's  laws,  and  you  are  her  slave ; 


THE  MISSION  Off  THE  CHURCH.  231 

obey,  and  you  are  her  master;  and  the  more  laws  we 
obey,  the  freer  and  more  masterful  do  we  become.  If 
you  would  do  me  good,  if  you  would  save  me  from 
some  impending  evil  or  bless  me  with  increased  power, 
a  larger  liberty,  a  richer  happiness,  show  me  another 
divine  law  that  I  may  obey.  Unknown  laws  are  bless- 
ings in  reserve;  steps  in  the  upward  path  of  the  race 
not  yet  taken.  All  true  progress  of  civilization  is  noth- 
ing more  or  less  than  the  discovery  of  God's  laws  and 
their  application  to  life. 

We  see,  then,  how  comprehensive  is  the  kingdom  of 
God.  It  is  of  course  as  far-reaching  as  the  laws  of  the 
King,  though  it  is  actually  established  only  where  those 
laws  are  obeyed,  and  in  the  Lord's  prayer,  "Thy 
kingdom  come:  thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in 
heaven,"  we  are  taught  to  pray  (and  therefore  to  labor) 
-for  the  complete  establishment  of  that  kingdom  in  all 
the  earth,  through  perfect  obedience  to  God's  will  as 
expressed  in  his  laws. 

This  conception  of  the  Kingdom  is  not  altogether 
familiar.  Some  need  to  be  reminded  that  by  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  or  the  kingdom  of  God,  of  which  Christ 
speaks  so  often,  he  does  not  mean  the  abode  of  the 
blessed  dead,  but  a  kingdom  of  righteousness  which 
he  came  to  establish  on  the  earth,  of  which  he  is  the 
king,  and  whose  fundamental  law  is  that  of  love. 

We  talk  a  great  deal  of  heaven  and  a  great  deal  of 
the  church,  and  think  that  the  mission  of  the  latter  is 
to  prepare  souls  for  the  former,  but  we  say  little  con- 
cerning the  kingdom  of  God.  Now  Christ  had  very 
little  to  say  of  heaven  and  only  twice  does  he  refer  to 
the  church,1  but  his  teachings  were  full  of  the  Kingdom. 
Before  his  birth  that  kingdom  was  made  the  subject  of 
prophecy,  "Of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."" 
When  he  was  about  ready  to  enter  on  his  public  min- 
istry, John  proclaimed,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at 
hand."  •  And  when  Christ  began  his  ministry,  this  was 
the  first  note  of  his  preaching.4  He  declared  that  for 
1  Matf.  zvi  18,  xviii.  17.  »  Luke  i.  33.  >  Matt.  iii.  2.  « Matt.  IT.  17. 


232  THE  NEW  EBA. 

this  he  was  sent,  to  "preach  the  kingdom  of  God;"1 
and  for  this  same  purpose  he  sent  out  the  twelve.2  The 
gospel  that  he-  preached  was  "the  gospel  of  the  king- 
dom; " s  the  mysteries  which  he  explained  to  his  dis- 
ciples were  "  mysteries  of  the  kingdom.'1'' 4  He  began  his 
sermon  on  the  mount  by  pronouncing  a  blessing  on 
those  to  whom  "the  kingdom  of  heaven"  belonged.5 
He  stated  the  conditions  of  entrance  into  that  king- 
dom,6 and  told  who  would  be  great  and  who  would  be 
least  in  it.7  In  a  single  discourse  to  the  multitude 
and  later  to  his  disciples,  he  presented  the  Kingdom  in 
a  half-dozen  different  aspects  by  as  many  different  par- 
ables.8 In  the  prayer  which  he  taught  his  followers,  a 
prayer  which  comprehends  the  daily  needs  and  what 
should  be  the  deepest,  daily  longings  of  every  Christian, 
the  second  petition  is  for  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  the  third  repeats  the  second  in  a  different  form.9 
He  taught  that  this  kingdom  was  to  be  the  first  object 
of  endeavor.10  And  when  he  showed  himself  to  his  fol- 
lowers after  his  resurrection,  he  spoke  of  "the  things 
pertaining  to  the  kingdom."  n 

Reference  has  been  made  to  only  a  small  proportion 
of  the  passages  in  which  Christ  spoke  of  the  Kingdom, 
but  these  suffice  to  show  that  it  was  his  great  mission 
to  inaugurate  the  kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth,  and 
ours  to  extend  it. 

We  must  not  infer  that  Christ  regarded  the  life  here 
as  more  important  than  the  life  hereafter.  I  infer 
rather  that  he  believed  the  best  way  to  fit  men  for  doing 
God's  will  in  heaven  was  by  teaching  them  to  do  God's 
will  on  earth ;  that  the  best  way,  in  fact  the  only  way, 
to  get  men  into  heaven  was  to  get  heaven  into  men. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  get  a  closer  and  clearer  view 
of  the  mission  of  the  church.  We  are  taught  explicitly 
and  repeatedly  that  the  church  is  the  body  of  which 


i  Luke  iv.  43.    '  Luke  ix.  1,  2.    »  Matt.  iv.  23.    «  Matt.  xiii.  II.    6  Matt.  v.  8. 

•  Matt.  v.  80,  vi.  21,  xviii.  3;  John  iii.  5.          '  Matt.  v.  19. 
8  Matt.  xiii.          •  Matt.  vi.  10.          '»  Matt.  vi.  83.          »  Acts  fe  3. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  233 

Christ  is  the  head.1  It  is  the  office  of  the  "body  in  all  its 
members  to  serve  the  head  and  execute  its  purposes. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  mission  of  the  church  to  accomplish 
the  purposes  of  Christ,  to  complete  the  work  which  he 
began.  It  was  Christ's  mission  to  inaugurate  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  the  earth.  It  is,  then,  the  mission  of  the 
church  to  extend  it  until  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,3  and  the  prophetic 
prayer  of  Christ  that  God's  will  might  be  done  on  earth 
as  in  heaven  has  found  its  fulfilling  answer. 

These  views  harmonize  perfectly  with  the  conclusions 
of  a  previous  chapter  (VI),  viz.,  that  Christ  laid  down 
the  fundamental  law  which  was  to  govern  men  in  their 
relations  to  each  other  as  well  as  that  which  was  to 
govern  them  in  their  relations  to  God,  and  that  it  was 
as  much  the  duty  of  the  church  to  inculcate  and  ex- 
emplify the  one  law  as  the  other, 

Inasmuch  then  as  perfect  obedience  to  the  will  of  God 
involves  obedience  to  all  the  laws  of  life,  in  all  our 
being,  all  our  activities,  and  all  our  relations ;  and  since 
the  Kingdom  cannot  fully  come  until  perfect  obedience 
is  rendered  to  God  on  earth  even  as  it  is  in  heaven ;  and 
since  it  is  the  mission  of  the  church  to  hasten  to  its 
consummation  the  glorious  coming  of  the  Kingdom — 
evidently  the  church  is  vitally  concerned  with  man's 
entire  being  and  all  that  affects  his  welfare.  As  man  is 
to  be  perfected  in  character  and  condition  when  the 
Kingdom  is  fully  come,  the  church  is  commissioned  to 
work  out  his  perfection,  and  is  interested,  or  ought  to 
be,  in  everything  on  earth  that  touches  for  good  or  ill 
man's  physical,  mental,  or  spiritual  health  and  well- 
being. 

But  it  is  asked,  "  How  can  the  church  be  thus  inter- 
ested in  all  human  concerns,  touch  and  influence  life  at 
all  points,  without  exercising  or  trying  to  exercise  a 
correspondingly  wide  authority,  thus  trenching  on  the 
province  of  the  state  ?" 

»  Col.  i.  18.  »  Rev.  xi.  15. 


234  1IIE  NEW  ERA, 

The  function  of  the  church  and  that  of  the  state  are 
quite  distinct,  and  should  ever  be  kept  so.  No  principle 
of  our  free  institutions  is  more  characteristic  and  none 
is  more  thoroughly  established  than  that  of  the  entire 
separation  of  the  two.  But  precisely  what  is  meant  by 
the  separation  of  church  and  state  is  not  commonly  or, 
indeed,  often  understood.  There  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  made  a  clear  distinction  between  function  and 
sphere,  for  lack  of  which  there  has  been  much  confu- 
sion, and  most  people  have  gained  a  radically  wrong 
idea  of  the  sphere  of  the  church.  Sphere  is  the  extent 
or  field  of  activity,  while  function  is  the  kind  or  nature 
of  that  activity.  The  sphere  of  an  organ  is  icliere  it 
operates,  its  function  is  what  it  does.  Thus,  in  the 
animal  organism  tissue  and  blood  have  almost  exactly 
the  same  sphere,  but  the  functions  of  the  two  are  en- 
tirely different. 

The  higher  the  organization,  the  more  are  its  several 
organs  with  their  separate  functions  specialized.  As 
society  becomes  more  highly  organized  it  becomes  more 
important  to  keep  the  function  of  church  and  state 
separate ;  but  it  is  as  great  a  mistake  to  limit  the  sphere 
of  the  church  as  it  is  not  to  limit  its  functions.  The 
sphere  of  the  church  includes  that  of  the  state  and 
much  more.  It  is  as  broad  as  the  sphere  of  conscience, 
which  is  as  far-reaching  as  all  human  activity. 

One  of  the  greatest  blunders  and  sins,  productive  of 
endless  evil,  is  the  limitation  of  the  sphere  of  con- 
science, excluding  it  from  politics,  business,  and  what 
are  called  "secular"  occupations.  A  notable  instance, 
already  referred  to,  was  afforded  by  the  United  States 
Senator  who  outraged  the  moral  sense  of  the  nation  and 
at  the  same  time  pronounced  his  own  political  death- 
sentence  by  declaring  that  politics  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  Ten  Commandments  or  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

It  is  wrong  and  dangerous  to  exclude  conscience  from 
any  sphere  of  human  activity ;  and  if  this  is  true,  it  is 
wrong  and  dangerous  to  exclude  the  church  from  any, 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  235 

for  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  educate  the  indi- 
vidual conscience  and  itself  to  be  the  conscience  of 
the  social  organism.  Christ  has  laid  down  the  funda- 
mental law  of  this  organism,  and  it  is  a  function  of  the 
church  to  say  to  men  in  all  their  relations  to  one  an- 
other, "You  ought  to  obey  this  law." 

The  distinction  in  function  between  the  church  and 
the  state  is  happily  made  by  Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  as  follows : 
"The  state  and  municipality  differ  from  the  church 
in  this,  that  whereas  the  church  says  '  You  ought,'  the 
municipality  says  '  You  must.'  "  '  Of  course  the  church 
has  and  ought  to  have  authority  in  the  administration 
of  her  internal  affairs,  but  she  should  have  no  authority 
whatever  over  the  public  or  over  any  individual  out- 
side her  own  institutions.  Beyond  her  own  walls  let 
the  church  have  unbounded  influence,  but  not  one  iota 
of  authority.  She  has  much  influence  now  and  ought 
to  have  infinitely  more.  That  influence  ought  to  ex- 
tend to  everything  that  concerns  the  kingdom  of  her 
Lord — and  what  does  not  ?  To  executives,  to  legisla- 
tive bodies,  to  corporations,  to  trades-unions,  to  classes, 
to  society  as  a  whole  and  to  individuals — to  all  these 
the  church  has  a  right  to  say  "You  ought;"  and  she 
should  be  able  to  say  it  with  such  cogency  of  reason 
and  such  obvious  purity  of  motive  as  to  carry  public 
opinion  with  her,  and  thus  mould  the  entire  life  of  the 
community. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  old  and  vicious  distinction 
between  the  sacred  and  the  secular,  even  the  conscien- 
tious man  brought  only  a  fraction  of  his  life  to  the 
touchstone  of  conscience.  But  when  he  learns  that  all 
the  laws  of  life,  that  all  "natural''  laws,  are  God's 
laws,  that  all  his  activities  sustain  relations  to  the  com- 
ing kingdom,  then  he  is  able  to  stretch  the  sceptre  of 
conscience  over  his  entire  life.  In  like  manner,  when 
the  church  has  learned  to  call  nothing  common  or  un- 
clean except  that  which  is  unholy,  when  she  has  learned 

1  The  Review  of  Reviews,  February,  1898. 


236  THE  NEW  ERA. 

that  politics  and  trade  and  education  and  all  other 
things  which  are  building  the  kingdom  of  God  among 
men  are  not  "secular"  but  sacred,  then  she  will  see 
that  she  sustains  relations  to  them  all,  that  all  belong 
to  her  sphere,  and  that  as  the  conscience  of  organized 
society  she  should  exert  a  determinative  moral  influ- 
ence over  its  entire  life. 

Of  course  there  are  many  questions  on  which  this 
conscience  of  society  cannot  declare  itself,  because  it  is 
not  as  yet  sufficiently  educated — the  churches  are  not 
yet  agreed  touching  these  questions;  precisely  as  the 
conscience  of  the  individual  is  silent  concerning  a  given 
question  so  long  as  he  is  wholly  uneducated  writh  re- 
gard to  it  or  while  he  is  in  doubt  as  to  the  right  and 
wrong  of  it;  but  when  these  become  clear,  conscience 
makes  itself  heard.  There  are  many  questions  on 
which  the  churches  differ,  and  on  which,  therefore,  they 
cannot  say  "You  ought;"  but  there  are  others  on 
which  they  are  agreed,  and  there  are  many  others  on 
which  increasing  light  will  enable  them  to  agree.  On 
all  such  questions  this  social  conscience  should  utter 
itself. 

This  broader  conception  of  the  mission  of  the  church, 
while  it  has  been  held  by  individuals,  has  never  been 
grasped  by  the  church  herself.  She  has  deemed  the 
world  a  hopeless  wreck,  and  herself  commissioned  to 
save  out  of  it  as  many  as  possible,  whom  she  is  to  land 
on  the  heavenly  shore.  It  has  not  yet  dawned  on  her 
that  she  is  to  save  the  wreck  itself.  She  has  sought  to 
fit  men  to  do  God's  perfect  will  in  heaven  instead  of 
consciously  aiming  to  hasten  the  answer  to  her  Lord's 
prayer,  "Thy  will  be  done  in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 
She  does  not  seem  to  have  perceived  that  God  had  the 
world  in  his  heart  and  plan.  "God  so  loved  the  world''1 ' 
that  he  gave  his  Son  for  its  redemption.  Christ  came 
into  the  world,  not  to  condemn  it,  "but  that  the  world 
through  him  might  be  saved." a  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 

»  John  iii.  16.  "  Ibid.  17. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  237 

God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." l  And 
the  last  words  of  our  ascending  Lord  were:  "All 
authority  hath  been  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,  .  .  .  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  commanded  you." 2  Paul  saw  that  in  the 
fulness  of  time  all  things  would  be  gathered  together 
in  Christ,  "both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are 
on  earth."  *  And  John  saw  the  redeemed  earth  in  the 
vision  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  which,  says  Canon  Fre- 
mantle,  "is  the  world  under  the  dominion  of  Christ. 
Like  the  visions  of  the  older  prophets,  it  has  its  realiza- 
tion, not  in  a  heavenly  state  beyond  this  world,  but  in  a 
progressively  righteous  state  in  this  world." 4 

If  the  church  had  grasped  her  Lord's  idea  of  the 
kingdom  and  recognized  her  relations  to  it,  her  history 
and  the  world's  history  would  have  been  differently 
written.  The  narrowness  of  her  conception  and  of  her 
life  has  lost  to  the  church  much  of  her  influence  and 
sadly  limited  her  usefulness.  I  have  not  one  pulse  of 
sympathy  with  the  hostile  critics  who  regard  the 
church  as  a  failure.  If  she  has  not  yet  saved  society, 
she  has  at  least  kept  it  from  rotting;  and  her  saving 
work  is  vast  and  precious — so  vast,  indeed,  that  when 
we  remember  how  small  a  fraction  of  her  possible  force 
she  has  made  actual,  in  how  narrow  a  sphere  her  influ- 
ence has  been  exerted,  what  inadequate  and  oftentimes 
mistaken  methods  she  has  employed,  there  is  kindled 
in  us  a  great  hope  that  when  she  sees  the  largeness  of 
her  mission,  avails  herself  of  latent  force  and  employs 
the  methods  demanded  by  modern  conditions,  she  will 
mightily  hasten  the  millennium,  and  become  what  she 
ought  always  to  have  been,  the  promoter  of  all  good, 
the  enemy  of  all  evil. 

The  church  ought  always  to  have  been  the  first  to 
recognize  and  relieve  human  needs  and  to  right  human 


>  John  i.  29.  »  Matt,  xxviii.  18-20.  '  Eph.  i.  10. 

«  The  World  as  the  Subject  of  Redemption,  p.  130. 


238  THE  NEW  ERA. 

wrongs.  But  with  a  narrow  conception  of  her  mission 
she  has  sat  with  folded  hands  while  a  thousand  organi- 
zations have  sprung  up  at  her  side  to  do  her  proper 
work.  No  benevolent  work  or  reform  inspired  by  a 
Christian  spirit  should  ever  have  been  forced  to  go  out- 
side the  Christian  church  for  organization.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  the  Charity  Organization  Societies, 
the  Bed  Cross,  the  White  Cross,  and  scores  of  similar 
organizations  are  all  doing  the  proper  work  of  the 
church.  I  rejoice  greatly  in  the  manifold  fruits  of  their 
work.  I  do  not  see  how  the  dreariest  pessimist  could 
acquaint  himself  with  them  and  not  be  converted  to  a 
good  hope  for  humanity.  I  rejoice  that  when  these 
organizations  became  necessary  they  appeared;  but  if 
the  church  had  fully  recognized  her  relations  to  society, 
if  she  had  appreciated  the  largeness  of  her  mission, 
they  would  never  have  been  needed. 

All  of  these  organizations  draw  their  life,  their  in- 
spiration, and  most  of  their  members  from  the  church ; 
but  their  success  is  not  her  success,  their  influence  and 
their  honors  are  not  hers,  and  some  of  them  contribute 
little  or  nothing  to  her  upbuilding.  There  is  a  law  in 
nature  that  the  tree's  fruit  shall  contain  the  seed  which 
reproduces  the  tree.  There  are  a  thousand  beautiful 
charities  and  blessed  reforms  which  are  the  fruit  of 
Christianity,  but  which  contain  no  seed  for  the  repro- 
duction and  increase  of  the  church  because  they  were 
not  produced  by  the  church. 

One  or  two  illustrations  where  an  indefinite  number 
might  be  given.  The  Charity  Organization  Societies, 
which  are  doing  so  much  good  in  our  great  cities,  are  an 
immense  advance  on  the  slip-shod,  unscientific  methods, 
or  rather  lack  of  method,  which  they  are  displacing. 
They  are  eminently  Christian  in  spirit ;  they  should  be 
avowedly  so.  Like  Peter  and  John,  when  the  impo- 
tent man  asks  an  alms,  instead  of  giving  silver  or  gold, 
they  take  him  by  the  hand  and  set  him  on  his  feet, 
making  him  capable  of  earning  his  own  silver  and  gold ; 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  239 

but  unlike  the  apostles  they  do  not  do  this  "in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth."  Their  admirable  philan- 
thropic work  ought  to  be  distinctly  religious  also,  and 
would  be  more  successful  if  it  were ;  but  cannot  be,  it  is 
said,  because  Jews  and  skeptics  as  well  as  the  churches 
contribute  to  their  funds.  Exactly  so;  which  fact  be- 
ing interpreted  means  that  the  churches,  as  such,  ought 
to  do  this  work.  They  have  no  right  to  delegate  it 
to  an  organization  which  cannot  do  it  in  the  name  of 
their  Master,  thus  throwing  away  an  opportunity  to 
influence  and  regain  a  large  population  now  notoriously 
beyond  their  reach.  Our  Christianity  ought  to  be  thor- 
oughly philanthropic  and  our  philanthropy  ought  to  be 
thoroughly  Christian.  These  two,  which  the  Master 
joined  together,  we  ought  never  to  have  put  asunder. 

The  rules  of  a  certain  railroad  forbade  hackmen, 
while  waiting  for  trains,  to  enter  the  depot.  In  storms 
and  severe  winter  weather  considerable  suffering  re- 
sulted. A  lady  moved  by  a  Christian  spirit  circulated 
a  subscription  to  build  a  suitable  shelter ;  and  the  hack- 
men  said:  "See  how  kind  these  good  people  are.  The 
churches  care  nothing  for  us.  They  have  allowed  us  to 
stand  around  in  the  cold,  winter  after  winter,  and  have 
never  done  a  thing.1'  It  is  quite  possible  that  "  these 
good  people  "  were  all  church-members,  but  their  Chris- 
tian act  gave  the  churches  of  the  place  no  influence 
over  a  neglected  and  alienated  class. 

The  church,  as  the  body  of  Christ,  ought  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  embody  the  Christianity  in  the  world.  But 
Christianity  in  its  spirit  and  work  is  much  broader  than 
the  church  to-day.  Many  movements  in  behalf  of  hu- 
manity which  were  the  manifest  result  of  the  pervasive 
and  regenerating  spirit  of  Christianity  have  been  left 
by  the  church  to  struggle  alone,  and  in  some  sad  cases 
even  against  her  opposition.  As  President  Bascom  re- 
marks: "Reforms  of  the  most  imperative  character 
meet  with  hesitating  and  wavering  support  from 
churches,  and  sometimes  encounter  bitter  opposition. 
.  .  .  Most  of  the  social  questions  of  the  last  hundred 


240  THE  NEW  ERA. 

years  have  brought  nearly  as  much  discredit  as  credit  to 
religion."  '  The  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States 
was  undoubtedly  due  to  the  influence  of  Christianity, 
but  it  won  no  honor  or  gratitude  to  the  church.  Prin- 
cipal Fairbairn  said  before  the  London  Congregational 
Union  a  few  years  ago:  "  There  is  one  thing  I  profound- 
ly feel — the  wayjn  which  churches,  taken  as  a  whole, 
have  allowed  the  industrial  classes  to  grapple  almost 
unaided  with  their  problems,  to  fight  unhelped  their 
way  into  their  liberties  and  rights." 

If  the  church  is  willing  to  teach  by  her  example  that 
Christianity  is  divorced  from  philanthropy  and  reform 
and  social  science  and  the  progress  of  civilization,  or 
that  these  are  broader  than  Christianity,  she  must  be 
content  to  occupy  a  little  place  and  never  dream  of  con- 
quering the  world  for  Christ.  But  if  she  aims  at  uni- 
versal conquest,  she  must  show  a  universal  interest  in 
human  affairs. 

We  are  living  in  the  sociological  age  of  the  world,  the 
distinctive  problems  of  which  spring  from  the  relations 
of  man  to  his  fellow.  When  civilization  is  brought 
face  to  face  with  an  age  problem  it  constitutes  a  race 
emergency.  If  a  religion  is  to  prove  itself  thoroughly 
adapted  to  human  nature  and  destined  to  be  final,  it 
must  show  itself  equal  to  the  great  emergencies  of  the 
race,  and  able  to  meet  the  peculiar  demands  of  every 
age. 

Here  is  the  most  serious  question  of  our  times:  Is 
Christianity  able  to  establish  right  relations  between 
man  and  man  ?  The  skepticism  which  is  most  danger- 
ous to  Christianity  to-day  is  not  doubt  as  to  the  age  or 
authenticity  or  genuineness  of  its  sacred  books  or  dis- 
trust of  time-honored  doctrines,  but  loss  of  faith  in  its 
vitality.  Is  it  equal  to  living  issues,  can  it  inform  our 
developing  civilization  and  determine  its  character,  can 
it  reconcile  classes  and  conflicting  interests,  can  it  right 
existing  wrongs,  can  it  purify  politics,  can  it  command 

»  Sociology,  p.  173. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  241 

the  public  conscience,  can  it  lay  the  industrial  world 
under  its  law  of  love  to  one's  neighbor,  thus  putting  an 
end  to  the  unnatural  duel  between  capital  and  labor, 
can  it  fit  men  for  earth  as  well  as  heaven  ? 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  gospel  of  Christ 
was  intended  to  govern  human  relations  and  is  capable 
of  solving  the  problems  which  grow  out  of  them.  The 
question,  then,  becomes  this:  Will  the  church  enlarge 
her  conceptions  and  activities  to  the  wide  measure  of 
her  mission  and  apply  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  to 
the  entire  life  of  each  community  ?  Here  is  the  oppor- 
tunity of  the  ages  for  her  to  gain  a  commanding  in- 
fluence over  the  lives  of  the  multitude  and  fashion  the 
unfolding  civilization  of  the  future. 

Notice  briefly  some  of  the  results  which  would  natu- 
rally follow  the  full  acceptance  by  the  church  of  her 
comprehensive  mission. 

1.  The  church 'would  be  inspired  with  a  new  and  un- 
conquerable courage — the  courage  which  springs  from 
a  full  assurance  of  final  and  complete  victory.  The 
Christianity  of  Christ  is  to  conquer  all  peoples,  sweeten 
all  relationships,  sanctify  all  activities.  The  New  Jeru- 
salem is  even  now  descending  from  God  out  of  heaven 
and  will  yet  fill  the  earth.  The  time  is  surely  coming 
when  in  all  the  world  "  there  shall  be  no  more  sorrow, 
nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain;  for 
the  former  things  shall  have  passed  away."  Wrong  and 
wretchedness  have  their  day  that  seems  so  long;  they 
have  their  day,  but  have  their  doom.  It  was  spoken 
when  were  uttered  those  divine  words,  at  once  prayer 
and  prophecy,  u  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done 
in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  An  assurance  so  great,  a 
hope  so  glorious,  can  never  know  discouragement.  A 
thousand  hard-pressed  columns  that  are  wavering  to- 
day would  rally  with  fresh  enthusiasm  did  they  but  see 
the  sure  issue  of  the  battle. 

A  thousand  evils  exist  only  because  we  have  become 
accustomed  to  them  and  imagine  that  they  are  inevi- 
table. But  whatever  is  essentially  unjust  or  selfish  is 


242  THE  NEW  ERA. 

anti-Christian,  and  therefore  temporary.  It  will  as 
surely  pass  away  as  Christ  and  his  kingdom  shall  abide. 
"  If  we  think  things  cannot  be  different  from  what  they 
are,  we  but  add  so  much  to  the  dead  inertia  of  the 
world,  which  keeps  them  as  they  are."  '  Once  let  the 
conviction  take  hold  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
necessary  and  permanent  evil,  and  courage  will  rise  to 
the  attack  of  every  evil,  however  well  intrenched. 

2.  Should  the  church  accept  her  commission  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  full  coming  of  the  Kingdom,  she 
would  become  the  champion  of  needed  reforms. 

In  almost  any  community  you  can  find  the  churches 
living  in  the  midst  of  evils  and  at  peace  with  them. 
Individual  Christians  may  be  in  conflict  with  them,  but 
not  often  the  churches,  as  churches.  They  are  opposed 
to  evil  in  the  abstract  all  over  the  world,  but  here  are 
concrete  evils  at  their  very  doors,  on  which  they  never 
lay  hands.  Take,  for  instance,  that  abomination  of  deso- 
lation, the  saloon,  at  enmity  with  all  good  and  in  league 
with  all  evil.  Only  here  and  there  is  there  a  church  at 
war  with  it.  One  might  attend  most  churches  for  years 
and  never  hear  of  the  saloon,  much  less  be  asked  to  join 
a  campaign  against  it  or  provide  a  substitute.  We  call 
ourselves  "soldiers  of  the  cross."  Soldiers  indeed! 
Whose  idea  of  "  service"  is  to  "  sit  and  sing  ourselves 
away  to  everlasting  bliss,"  while  there  are  vice  and 
crime,  moral  and  physical  filth,  ignorance  and  wretch- 
edness, within  hand -reach  of  every  one.  This  apathy  on 
the  part  of  a  multitude  of  good  people  touching  a  thou- 
sand evils  would  be  impossible  if  the  church  had  a  true 
conception  of  her  mission. 

When  a  Christian  is  at  peace  with  any  sin  in  his  own 
life,  when  he  is  reconciled  to  any  evil  habit,  or  becomes 
indifferent  to  anything  in  his  own  character  which 
renders  him  unlike  Christ,  he  is  disloyal  to  his  Master. 
In  like  manner,  when  a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  God 


1  "  Ethical  Religion,"  by  Wm.  Mackintire  Salter,  p.  155. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  243 

is  at  peace  with  any  sin  of  society,  becomes  reconciled 
to  any  evil  habits  of  the  community  or  indifferent  to 
anything  inconsistent  with  the  full  coming  of  God's 
kingdom  on  the  earth,  he  is  disloyal  to  the  kingdom. 

Are  the  saloon,  pauperism,  and  crime  consistent  with 
the  full  coming  of  that  kingdom  ?  Surely  not.  Then 
they  are  in  the  way  of  its  coming,  and  it  is  the  business 
of  the  church  to  clear  them  out  of  the  way.  If  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  church  to  relieve  the  poor,  has  she  no 
duty  concerning  the  causes  of  poverty  ?  Is  it  binding 
on  her  to  seek  and  to  save  the  vicious,  and  has  she  no 
responsibility  concerning  those  conditions  which  invari- 
ably breed  vice  ?  Is  it  her  business  to  save  the  drunkard, 
and  yet  has  she  no  business  with  the  saloon  ?  The  at- 
tempt to  cure  the  world's  evils  by  such  practice  is  sheer 
quackery.  If  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  put  a  stop 
to  certain  effects,  it  is  evidently  her  duty  to  put  an  end 
to  the  causes  which  inevitably  produce  them.  There 
must  be  no  compromise,  no  truce,  but  a  war  of  exter- 
mination. Wherever  there  is  an  evil,  it  is  the  business 
of  the  church  to  smite  it,  and  with  the  "  perseverance 
of  the  saints  "  to  keep  on  smiting  it  even  to  the  death. 
Every  wrong  on  earth  is  a  divine  call  to  the  Christian 
and  to  the  church  to  right  it.  When  the  church  gains 
this  conception  of  her  mission  and  acts  on  it,  there  will 
be  a  marvellous  mortality  among  the  world's  evils. 

With  this  broader  vision  of  her  mission  the  church 
will  soon  learn  that  her  reformatory  work  must  be  con- 
structive as  well  as  destructive.  There  is  an  important 
principle  which  is  often  forgotten  by  reformers,  viz., 
that  of  substitution.  There  is  a  story  of  a  man  out  of 
whom  an  unclean  spirit  was  cast.  The  evil  spirit  re- 
turned after  a  time  and  found  his  former  home  empty. 
"Then  goeth  he  and  taketh  with  him  seven  other 
spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in 
and  dwell  there;  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is 
worse  than  the  first."  The  evil  spirit  regained  posses- 
sion because  the  man  was  empty.  Good  had  not  been 
substituted  for  evil.  Human  nature  as  well  as  nature 


244  THE  NEW  ERA. 

abhors  a  vacuum.  Much  of  our  reform  work  is  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  create  vacuums.  The  way  to 
empty  is  to  fill.  Empty  of  evil  by  filling  with  good. 
Drive  out  darkness  by  admitting  light.  In  our  warfare 
against  the  saloon  and  immoral  amusements  we  think 
the  victory  won  when  the  evil  spirit  is  cast  out;  but  our 
victories  prove  to  be  only  temporary.  The  place  which 
had  been  full  of  all  filthiness  may  be  "swept"  never 
so  clean,  and  "garnished"  never  so  beautifully;  but  if 
left  empty,  it  is  soon  repossessed,  with  an  added  con- 
tingent of  devils. 

Strong  drink  is  only  one  of  the  attractions  of  the 
saloon.  There  is  warm  comfort  in  winter  and  cool  com- 
fort in  summer,  a  newspaper,  a  bright  light,  sociability, 
and  oftentimes  attractive  music.  Why  not  in  all  these 
outbid  the  saloon  ?  Surely,  when  the  question  is,  Who 
will  offer  most  for  least?  in  such  competition  love  of 
fellow -men  can  outbid  the  love  of  self. 

3.  This  leads  us  to  institutional  methods  of  church 
work,  or  to  what  some  prefer  to  call  the  institutional 
church,  which  is  a  natural  outgrowth  of  a  larger  con- 
ception of  the  mission  of  the  church. 

The  church  that  adopts  these  methods  recognizes  its 
duty  to  the  whole  man.  It  aims  to  cultivate  body  and 
mind  as  well  as  heart.  The  need  of  these  methods  is 
naturally  felt  by  "down-town"  churches,  which  are 
surrounded  by  people  whose  homes  have  few  attrac- 
tions ;  to  whom,  therefore,  saloons  and  places  of  amuse- 
ment appeal  strongly.  In  order  to  compete  success- 
fully with  these  demoralizing  attractions,  the  church 
emphasizes  its  social  features  and  keeps  its  doors  open 
seven  days  and  nights  in  the  week. 

The  gymnasium,  the  reading-room,  industrial  train- 
ing, the  cooking-school,  popular  lectures,  concerts, 
recreation -rooms,  bath-rooms,  games,  and  clubs  are 
prominent  features,  though  not  all  of  these  necessarily 
are  employed  by  the  same  church.  These  churches  are 
earnestly  evangelistic  in  spirit,  preaching  a  simple  gos- 
pel, and  pressing  men  to  an  immediate  decision.  The 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  245 

people  are  not  only  attracted  to  the  church,  but  are  also 
frequently  visited  in  their  homes. 

What  of  the  success  of  these  methods  ?  They  seem  in 
every  instance  to  win  the  people,  especially  the  young 
men  and  boys.  Dr.  Scudder  reports  that  twelve  hun- 
dred patronize  the  gymnasium  weekly,  that  the  weekly 
visits  to  the  recreation-rooms  run  from  fifteen  hundred 
to  two  thousand.  He  says:  "  No  need  of  talking  about 
reaching  the  masses  any  longer.  .  .  .  We  have  more 
masses  than  we  know  what  to  do  with.  When  we 
opened  our  Boys'  Club  we  had  five  hundred  and 
seventy  applications  in  less  than  a  week  and  then  we 
quit  giving  out  any  more,  for  fear  of  a  Johnstown  flood 
of  juvenile  humanity.  We  could  not  accommodate  all 
who  want  to  come,  if  we  had  four  times  the  room."  ' 

But  are  those  who  are  attracted  by  the  educational 
and  social  advantages  of  the  institutional  church 
brought  into  its  membership  ?  Let  the  facts  answer. 
The  Jersey  City  Tabernacle  has  more  than  doubled  its 
membership  in  a  few  years.  The  Berkeley  Temple, 
Boston,  had  305  resident  members  Jan.  1,  1888,  and  in 
three  years  has  received  313  to  its  membership.  The 
Fourth  Congregational  Church  of  Hartford  had  337 
resident  members  Jan.  1,  1887,  and  on  Jan.  1,  1892,  its 
membership  was  675.  In  1882  its  Sunday-school  num- 
bered 305,  and  its  Sunday-evening  congregations  less 
than  100.  In  1892  the  Sunday-school  had  over  900  mem- 
bers and  the  evening  congregations  nearly  800.  Dr. 
Scudder  says:  "Institutional  work  has  tremendously 
increased  the  congregation.  On  Sunday  evenings  we 
have  from  1000  to  1200,  and  as  many  as  300  of  this 
number  are  young  men.  It  has  increased  the  young 
men's  Bible  classes,  has  flooded  the  Junior  Endeavor 
Society,  increased  the  church  membership,  and  made 
the  weekly  prayer-meeting  larger  than  ever  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church." " 


ll'The  Institutional  Church,"  by  Rev.  C.  S.  Mills,  in  The  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  July,  1892.  »  Ibid. 


246  THE  NEW  ERA. 

When  we  remember  that  this  success  has  been  won 
in  localities  where  churches  working  along  the  old  lines 
have  become  enfeebled  and  have  died  or  moved  away, 
we  can  better  appreciate  its  significance. 

In  new  work  like  this,  some  mistakes  will  be  made  of 
course.  Not  all  experiments  will  prove  successful,  but 
the  success  already  achieved  certainly  indicates  that  an 
important  step  has  been  taken  in  the  right  direction. 

Its  wisdom  is  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  whose  surprising 
success  came  only  after  it  enlarged  its  aims  and  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  young  men  have  bodies  and  minds 
as  well  as  souls. 

At  this  point  an  objection  is  interposed.  Some  will 
fear  that  this  is  turning  the  churches  aside  from  their 
proper  spiritual  work  to  caring  for  bodily  and  temporal 
things. 

If  the  result  were  to  subordinate  the  spiritual  to  the 
physical,  if  it  practically  led  to  the  belief  that  religion 
consists  in  the  service  of  man  and  in  perfecting  the  life 
that  now  is,  this  extreme  would  be  a  worse  error  than 
the  opposite.  While  Christ  had  much  more  to  say  con- 
cerning this  life  than  the  next,  he  left  no  room  for  mis- 
apprehension as  to  their  relative  importance.  "  Be  not 
afraid  of  them  that  kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have 
no  more  that  they  can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn  you 
whom  ye  shall  fear:  Fear  him,  which  after  he  hath 
killed  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell ;  yea,  I  say  unto  you, 
Fear  him."  '  Christ  taught  with  entire  distinctness  that 
the  spiritual  is  more  important  than  the  physical,  but 
he  did  not,  therefore,  fall  into  the  narrow-minded  error 
of  depreciating  the  body.  He  was  mindful  of  bodily 
needs  and  tenderly  compassionate  of  bodily  sufferings ; 
and  surely  his  care  for  men's  bodies  gave  him  no  less 
influence  over  men's  souls.  So  far  as  the  Great  Teacher 
"turned  aside"  from  preaching  the  Gospel  in  order  to 
give  sight  to  the  blind,  health  to  the  sick,  and  food  to 

»  Luke  xii.  4,  5. 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  247 

the  hungry,  it  is  quite  safe  for  the  church  to  follow  his 
example.  Had  his  words  of  love  any  less  meaning  be- 
cause of  his  works  of  love  ?  If  the  church  lived  the  Gos- 
pel as  well  as  she  preaches  it,  the  multitude  would  have 
less  doubt  of  the  love  which  she  professes.  "If  the 
church  has  become  indifferent  to  the  material  and  intel- 
lectual interests  of  mankind,  it  has  forgotten  both  the 
teaching  and  the  example  of  Christ,  it  has  misappre- 
hended the  Christian  conception  of  human  nature,  it 
has  broken  with  its  own  best  traditions."  ' 

The  more  nearly  normal  and  Christ-like  the  life  of 
the  church  is,  the  more  truly  spiritual  will  it  be.  Dr. 
Scudder  testifies  that  institutional  work  has  increased 
the  spiritual  tone  of  his  church  decidedly.  All  fear  for 
the  spirituality  of  the  church  in  case  she  takes  an  active 
interest  in  things  temporal  is  of  a  piece  with  the  old- 
fashioned  suspicion  of  a  full,  vigorous,  physical  life 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  unfriendly  to  piety.  But  this 
morbid,  worm-ripe  piety,  once  in  favor,  has  pretty 
much  passed  out  of  fashion  for  the  individual,  and  it  is 
to  be  devoutly  hoped  that  for  the  church  it  will  soon 
follow. 

4.  The  acceptance  by  the  church  of  this  larger  concep 
tion  of  her  mission  would  have  a  powerful  influence  to 
carry  religion  into  ordinary,  every-day  life,  and  thus  by 
spiritualizing  the  "secular"  afford  a  further  answer  to 
the  preceding  objection. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  hoe  potatoes  or  build  a  steam- 
engine  to  the  glory  of  God  when  the  occupation  of  the 
farmer  and  that  of  the  machinist  are  deemed  "  secular," 
are  not  supposed  to  have  any  spiritual  relations.  But 
when  it  is  seen  that  the  laws  of  the  material  world  are 
laws  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  that  on  them  spiritual 
results  are  ultimately  conditioned ;  when  it  is  seen  that 
everv  aot  of  obedience  to  the  laws  which  God  has  estab- 
lished, whether  pertaining  to  mind  or  matter,  that  every 
stroke  of  honest  and  well-directed  work  is  laying  a  stone 

1  Schmidt's  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  xxiii 


248  THE  NEW  EKA. 

in  the  upbuilding  of  the  glorious  kingdom  which  shall 
one  day  fill  the  earth,  then  it  becomes  possible,  whether 
we  eat  or  drink  or  whatsoever  we  do,  to  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  God.  In  George  Herbert's  noble  words : 

"  A  servant  with  this  clause 
Makes  drudgery  divine ; 
Who  sweeps  a  room,  as  for  thy  laws, 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine." 

When  every  act  is  thus  consecrated,  the  farmer,  the 
mechanic,  becomes  a  priest  unto  God,  who  makes  his 
entire  life  an  acceptable  sacrifice.  And  religion  is  seen  to 
consist  not  in  certain  outward  acts  and  observances,  com- 
monly called  sacred,  but  in  the  purpose  and  motive  of 
life  which  may  be  carried  alike  into  worship  and  work 
and  play.  True  religion  is  thus  seen  to  be,  not  something 
fractional  and  incidental,  not  here  and  there  a  little 
island  of  goodness  and  blessedness  in  the  great  sea  of 
worldly  experiences,  but  rather  the  salt  which  pene- 
trates every  drop  of  the  ocean,  is  in  every  wave  and 
ripple  and  fleck  of  foam  -r  sweeping  along  with  the  great 
gulf  stream,  running  with  every  tide,  found  in  every 
bay  and  sound  and  inlet  and  arm  of  the  sea,  filling  the 
length  and  breadth  and  height  and  depth  of  the  whole, 
and  cleansing,  saving  it  all.  From  the  ocean's  fulness 
you  cannot  dip  a  single  cup  of  water  which  is  not  per- 
meated with  its  salt.  And  so  there  ought  to  be  no  hour 
or  moment  of  life,  no  great  wave  of  purpose  or  ripple  of 
mirth,  no  deep  or  shallow  experiences  of  life,  no  undis- 
covered inlet  of  character,  which  the  salt  of  a  Christian 
aim  and  motive  dees  not  penetrate — an  ever-present 
and  all-potent  influence. 

5.  Another  result,  closely  related  to  the  foregoing, 
which  would  naturally  follow  an  adequate  conception  of 
her  mission  on  the  part  of  the  church,  is  a  clearer,  fuller 
consciousness  of  God.  This  is  one  of  the  supreme  needs 
of  the  race. 

Animal  life  is  higher  than  vegetable  because  it  is  en- 
dowed with  consciousness;  that  is,  it  is  capable  of 
pleasure  and  pain.  Man  is  higher  than  the  brute  be- 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  2 

cause  he  is  endowed  with  seZ/-consciousness,  without 
which  he  would  be  incapable  of  a  conscience  and  of 
moral  action.  Self-consciousness  makes  him  capable  of 
self  fellowship,  capable  of  conscious  harmony  or  dis- 
cord with  himself,  which  is  a  nobler  pleasure  and  a 
greater  pain  than  any  of  which  the  brute  is  capable. 
Now  the  next  great  upward  step  is  God-consciousness. 
This  means  a  new  and  higher  fellowship,  a  new  motive, 
new  strength,  new  inspiration,  new  joy;  in  short,  "a 
new  creature"  to  whom  "all  things  are  become  new. 
And  all  things  are  of  God."  '  Every  Christian  has  this 
consciousness  of  God  at  times  and  in  measure,  and  the 
clearer,  stronger,  and  more  constant  it  is,  the  more 
spiritual  and  Christ-like  are  his  character  and  life.  In 
Christ  this  God-consciousness  was  perfect.  He  could 
say,  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  *  Moses  possessed  it 
in  an  eminent  degree,  and  "endured  as  seeing  him  who 
is  invisible." s 

To  most  men  God  is  unreal,  and  even  to  most  Chris- 
tians he  is  far  off.  The  old  and  false  distinction  between 
the  sacred  and  the  secular  has  served  to  remove  him 
from  nature  and  from  the  common  activities  of  life,  so 
that  he  has  become  to  most  men  what  Carlyle  calls  "an 
absentee  God,"  manifesting  himself  only  by  portent  or 
prodigy.  We  need  to  see  him  in  the  silent  and  gradual 
processes  of  nature,  present  in  all  her  beauty,  potent  in 
all  her  life,  revealed  in  all  her  laws;  and  hence  entering 
into  all  our  life  and  activities. 

If  God  makes  even  the  "  wrath  of  men  to  praise  him," 
all  human  activities  may  be  said  to  form  a  mighty 
hallelujah  chorus.  But  multitudes  join  in  this  praise 
as  did  the  morning  stars  when  they  "sang  together," 
without  intention  or  desert.  When  men  generally  have 
risen  to  a  consciousness  of  God,  the  discoveries  of 
science,  legislation,  business,  manufactures,  agricul 
ture,  art — all  human  activities  will  enter  into  the 
harmony  of  the  divine  plans  for  perfecting  the  race, 

>  2  Cor.  v.  17, 18.  »  John  x.  30.  Heb.  ad.  27. 


250  THE  NEW  ERA. 

not  because  they  are  overruled  by  infinite  wisdom,  but 
because  men  consciously  and  intelligently  co-labor  with 
God  to  this  glorious  end. 

6.  If  the  church  would  accept  her  full  commission, 
she  would  soon  gain  the  masses.  Let  the  church  return 
to  the  Christianity  of  Christ,  and  the  multitude  would 
soon  return  to  her.  Said  a  workingman  before  the 
Committee  on  Labor  of  the  United  States  Senate: 
"Workingmen  do  not  attend  the  church,  not  because 
they  are  irreligious  or  are  opposed  to  Christianity,  but 
because  the  churches  have  ceased  to  represent  to  us  the 
teachings  of  Christianity." 

Charles  Kingsley  somewhere  declares  that  "If  the 
Christian  church  were  what  she  ought  to  be  and  could 
be,  for  a  single  day,  the  world  would  be  converted 
before  nightfall."  This  rightly  fixes  responsibility  for 
the  world's  unsaved  condition  on  the  church.  It  is  her 
fault  that  she  has  lost  her  hold  on  the  multitude.  She 
has  taught  that  their  occupations  were  "secular;"  and 
the  righting  of  their  wrongs,  the  relieving  of  their 
want,  the  healing  of  their  sicknesses,  she  has  for  the 
most  part  turned  over  to  other  organizations.  They 
have  very  naturally  gained  the  impression  that  she  is 
not  concerned  with  what  they  consider  real  life,  that 
her  province  is  the  spiritual  and  the  future,  which  do 
not  appeal  strongly  to  men  whose  wants  are  mostly 
physical  and  altogether  present. 

Christianity  is  misunderstood  because  it  is  misrepre- 
sented. If  we  could  make  the  world  believe  that  we 
are  interested  in  reconciling  capital  and  labor,  not 
simply  as  economists,  but  as  Christians;  that  we  are 
interested  in  the  purification  of  politics,  not  simply  as 
good  citizens,  but  as  Christians;  that  we  are  interested 
in  tenement-house  reform,  not  simply  as  philanthro- 
pists, but  as  Christians;  that  we  are  interested  in  drain- 
age and  ventilation  and  water-supply,  not  simply  as 
sanitarists,  but  as  Christians;  that  we  are  interested 
in  commerce,  and  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  and 
science,  and  art  because  their  progress  helps  to  prepare 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  CHURCH.  251 

the  way  for  the  full  coming  of  the  Kingdom;  that  be- 
cause we  are  Christians  we  are  interested  in  men's 
physical  and  intellectual  soundness  as  well  as  spiritual, 
— would  not  the  world  soon  gain  a  very  different  and 
much  more  truthful  idea  of  the  Christianity  of  Christ  ? 
And  if  the  church  preached  and  lived  such  a  Christian- 
ity, would  she  not  speedily  gain  a  saving  influence  over 
the  multitude  ? 

7.  Finally,  the  church  would  not  only  win  the  many, 
who  for  the  most  part  are  living  on  a  physical  plane 
with  low  ideals,  but  also  the  few  with  high  ideals  who 
have  lost  confidence  in  the  church  because  she  is  doing 
so  little  for  social  regeneration. 

There  are  advocates  of  ethical  religion  and  of  theoso- 
phy  who  have  a  higher  ideal  of  social  righteousness 
than  the  church,  who  believe  that  Christianity  can  do 
nothing  more  for  civilization,  for  humanity,  because  it 
has  failed  to  create  such  an  ideal.  They  do  not  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  for  all  that  is  noble  in  their  own  ideal 
they  are  indebted  to  Christ's  doctrine  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth,  and  that  it  is  an  apprehension  of  a 
measure  of  his  teaching  which  gives  to  these  move- 
ments whatever  vitality  they  possess,  while  it  is  the 
failure  of  the  church  to  apprehend  the  teaching  of  her 
Lord  which  gives  to  them  their  opportunity.  Such 
organizations  are  springing  up  because  the  church  has 
failed  to  grasp  Christ's  ideal  and  to  apply  his  teaching 
to  social  relations. 

The  world  in  this  sociological  age  needs  a  new  social 
ideal  to  direct  the  progress  of  civilization.  Let  the 
church  fully  accept  her  mission  and  she  will  furnish 
this  needed  ideal,  viz.,  her  Master's  conception  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  come  upon  earth. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS. 

THE  triumphs  of  inventive  genius  which  have  wrought 
such  miracles  in  the  mechanical  world  are  all  triumphs 
of  method.  No  man  has  ever  created  a  principle  or  an 
ounce  of  power.  New  inventions  are  only  new  applica- 
tions of  old  principles  or  new  methods  of  applying  power 
already  existing.  Yet  method  has  made  all  the  differ- 
ence between  ox -cart  and  railroad  civilization. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  in  Christian  work  to  expect  re- 
sults from  mere  methods.  They  are  nothing  if  spiritual 
power  is  lacking ;  as  well  expect  results  from  the  water- 
wheel  when  the  stream  has  run  dry.  The  prophet 
Ezekiel  saw,  in  his  vision,  wheels  within  wheels,  but  he 
saw  also  that  "  the  spirit  of  the  living  creature  was  in 
them."  Church  machinery  in  which  there  is  no  living 
spirit  is  worse  than  useless. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  perhaps  as  great  a  mis- 
take to  underrate,  as  to  overrate,  the  importance  of 
methods.  While  method  is  no  substitute  for  motive, 
and  machinery  cannot  create  power  nor  organization 
life,  yet  life  manifests  itself  by  organization,  power  is 
applied  by  machinery,  and  motive  miscarries  if  method 
is  wrong. 

This  has  been  an  age  of  improvement  in  methods ;  in 
education,  in  medicine,  in  all  branches  of  science,  in 
manufactures,  in  commerce,  in  agriculture,  in  war,  in 
business,  in  everything  except  church  work,  in  which 
our  methods  remain  substantially  what  they  were  many 
generations  ago.  There  are  some  churches  which  are 

252 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         253 

adapting  methods  to  their  changed  conditions,  but  as 
yet  such  churches  are  rare. 

Surely,  methods  of  church  work  have  not  remained 
unchanged  because  they  were  incapable  of  improve- 
ment. Judge  them  by  their  results.  Look  at  the  power 
in  the  church  and  then  consider  how  efficiently,  or 
inefficiently,  it  has  been  applied  by  the  established 
methods  to  the  work  to  be  done.  I  pick  up  a  church 
year-book  at  random,  and  turning  a  half-dozen  leaves, 
find  a  church  of  452  members,  which  in  a  year's  time 
received  six  on  confession  of  faith;  another  with  445 
members  which  received  four.  Another  with  624  mem- 
bers received  two ;  another  with  410  members  received 
one.  Such  churches,  where  there  is  less  than  one  addi- 
tion on  confession  to  a  hundred  members,  are  not  repre- 
sentative, but  they  are  very  common.  During  the  year 
1891,  in  a  large  and  influential  denomination  it  took,  on 
the  average,  fourteen  church  members  to  win  a  single 
convert  from  the  world ;  in  another  it  took  seventeen, 
and  in  another  twenty -two.  These  three  denominations 
aggregate  four  and  a  half  millions  of  members,  and 
striking  the  average  of  all,  it  took  about  twenty  (19.8) 
of  these  Christians  twelve  months  to  make  one  con- 
vert ! ' 

Why  should  there  not  be  as  great  possibilities  in 
spiritual  as  in  natural  husbandry  ?  Christ  used  the  one 
to  illustrate  the  other,  and  talked  of  thirty  and  sixty 
and  a  hundred  fold  in  a  single  year — not  per  cent,  but 
fold.  Thirty -fold  (as  if  that  were  the  lowest  natural 
increase  to  be  expected)  means  3000  per  cent.  The  in- 
crease of  these  three  denominations  on  confession  of 
faith  (their  only  accessions  to  the  Kingdom)  is  about 
5  per  cent,  or  one  twentieth  part  of  one-fold !  That  is,  if 
the  increase  had  been  six  hundred  times  greater  than  it 
was,  it  would  then  have  reached  only  the  lowest  stan- 
dard named  by  Christ.  Is  the  one-twentieth  part  of 

1  The  year-books  of  other  leading  denominations  do  not  give  data  from 
which  to  make  the  computation.  There  is  no  reason  to  think  th«  thro* 
referred  to  are  exceptional. 


254  THE  NEW  ERA. 

one-fold  normal  ?  If  a  farmer  sowed  twenty  bushels  of 
wheat  and  harvested  only  twenty-one,  would  he  not  call 
his  crop  a  failure  ? 

We  congratulate  ourselves  yearly  on  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  added  to  the  churches,  but  if  we  were  not 
wonted  to  these  small  returns  we  should  hide  our  heads 
in  very  shame  at  their  meagreness.  The  angels  of  God 
rejoice  over  one  repenting  sinner,  and  so  do  we;  but 
when  we  look  on  the  mighty  unchurched  multitude  we 
must  stay  our  rejoicing. 

If  the  church  had  set  her  heart  on  saving  the  race 
she  would  long  since  have  become  dissatisfied  with  her 
accustomed  methods,  for  long  since  it  became  apparent 
that  those  who  are  not  Christians  are  on  the  increase  in 
the  world.  The  Rev.  James  Johnston,  secretary  of  the 
World's  Missionary  Conference  in  London  in  1888, 
says ' :  "  The  heathen  and  Mohammedan  population  of 
the  world  is  more  by  200,000,000  than  it  was  a  hundred 
years  ago ;  while  the  converts  and  their  families  do  not 
amount  to  3,000,000."  That  is,  "the  increase  of  the 
heathen  is,  numerically,  more  than  seventy  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  converts  during  the  century  of 
missions."  Of  our  own  population  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century  there  were  less  than  5,000,000  who  were 
not  members  of  some  Protestant  church ;  in  1890  there 
were  nearly  ten  times  that  number.  And  as  we  have 
seen,  extended  investigations  indicate  that  one  half  of 
the  families  in  the  land,  or  more  than  30,000,000  of  our 
population,  are  quite  estranged  from  all  churches. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  although  the  relative  in- 
crease of  the  churches  is  greater  than  that  of  the  entire 
population,  the  actual  increase  of  population  is  greater 
than  that  of  the  churches. 

We  have  lost  our  hold  on  the  masses,  and  our  failure 
to  purge  the  wickedness  and  relieve  the  wretchedness 
of  city  slums  has  become  conspicuous.  Arnold  White, 
after  much  study  of  the  social  conditions  of  London, 

1  A  Centuiy  of  Protestant  Missions,  p.  9. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.          255 

writes1:  "The  present  system  of  the  churches,  after  a 
course  of  evangelical  teaching  extending  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  has  failed  beyond  hope  of  redemp- 
tion." 

It  would  seem  to  be  sufficiently  clear  that  our 
methods  have  been  sadly  deficient.  But  even  if  they 
had  been  adequate  in  the  past,  changed  conditions 
would  now  require  their  readjustment  or  the  substitu- 
tion of  new  ones.  The  problem  of  the  country  has 
arisen,  while  that  of  the  city  has  become  far  more  com- 
plicated. Immigration  has  brought  us  a  babel  of 
tongues  and  a  medley  of  races  and  religions.  Not  only 
has  population  become  more  heterogeneous,  but  classes 
have  grown  more  distinct.  Unbelief  has  been  popular- 
ized. The  saloon  has  become  an  organized  institution 
of  immense  wealth  and  tremendous  power.  The  labor- 
ing classes  have  become  discontented,  and  generally 
indifferent  or  positively  hostile  to  the  church.  To 
absent  one's  self  from  church  was  once  disreputable, 
and  even  a  crime  punished  by  the  state ;  now,  few  attend 
except  church  members  and  their  families.  This  fact 
indicates  that  the  growth  of  the  churches  in  the  future 
will  be  for  the  most  part  confined  to  the  natural  in- 
crease of  Christian  families  unless  some  new  and 
effective  methods  are  adopted  to  bring  the  Gospel  to 
bear  on  many  now  beyond  its  reach.  Past  methods 
will  not  sustain  the  past  rate  of  growth,  because  we 
have  not  now  in  our  congregations  the  material  to  work 
on  which  we  once  had.  The  margin  of  unconverted 
church  attendants  had  already  become  so  small  some 
years  ago  that  the  churches  made  no  such  gain  on  the 
population  between  1880  and  1890  as  between  1870  and 
1880.  During  the  earlier  period,  1870-1880,  they  gained 
more  than  3  per  cent  over  the  population ;  but  during 
the  latter,  less  than  1} — and  this  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  the  rate  of  increase  in  population  was  de- 
cidedly less  during  the  latter  decade  than  during  the 
former. 

1  The  Problems  of  a  Great  City,  p.  24  (London,  1886). 


256  THE  NEW  ERA. 

These  changes  in  the  composition  of  the  population 
and  in  the  ideas  and  habits  of  the  people  constitute  a 
change  of  conditions  which  demands  a  thorough  revi- 
sion of  our  methods  of  church  work.  But  far  more 
than  all  these,  a  profound  change  is  taking  place  in 
civilization ;  one  of  the  great  movements  of  the  ages 
is  distinctly  discernible ;  we  have  entered  on  the  socio- 
logical period  of  the  world,  which  will  witness  another 
evolution  of  society  in  the  progress  of  the  race  toward 
its  high  destiny. 

Evidence  that  Christianity  is  the  absolute  and  final 
religion  is  found  in  its  power  of  adaptation  by  which 
it  has  adjusted  its  methods  and  outward  forms  to 
changed  conditions.  Christianity  has  already  had 
three  great  transitional  periods,  and  is  now  passing 
through  a  fourth. 

During  the  apostolic  age  men  preached  and  accepted 
the  simple  facts  of  the  Gospel  without  philosophizing 
on  them.  The  apostolic  fathers  were  less  concerned 
with  theology  than  with  the  immediate  demands  of 
practical  life.  But  when  the  rapid  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity alarmed  heathenism  and  led  to  acute  attacks 
like  those  of  Celsus,  it  became  necessary  to  define  and 
defend  Christian  doctrine.  Then  Christianity  became 
dogmatic  and  apologetic.  The  triumph  of  Christianity 
under  the  empire  and  the  union  of  church  and  state 
marked  another  transition.  The  church  then  entered 
on  a  long  period  of  ecclesiasticism  and  centralization 
which  were  doubtless  necessary  to  the  preservation  of 
civilization  when  the  empire  went  to  pieces  before 
the  inrushing  barbarians.  Again,  when  a  powerful 
ecclesiasticism  had  ceased  to  protect  and  foster  civili- 
zation and  served  rather  to  paralyze  it  by  restrict- 
ing the  development  of  the  individual,  then  came  the 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  consti- 
tuted the  third  great  transition.  The  Reformation  was 
at  the  same  time  a  return  and  an  advance — a  return  to 
Scriptural  truth  and  an  advance  in  the  application  of 
doctrine  to  personal  experience. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         257 

In  the  new  era  Christianity  will  present  a  fourth  new 
phase,  the  result  of  another  adaptation  to  changed  con- 
ditions ;  and  this  new  phase,  like  the  great  Reformation 
to  which  it  is  complemental,  will  be  both  a  return  and 
an  advance — a  return  to  Christ's  teaching  concerning 
man's  relations  to  his  fellow-men,  and  an  advance  in 
the  application  of  Christianity  to  the  organized  life  of 
society. 

When  the  church  accepts  the  second  fundamental 
law  of  Christ,  not  as  a  beautiful  and  impracticable 
ideal,  but  as  the  practical  law  of  social  life,  which  he 
evidently  intended,  her  conception  of  her  mission  will 
be  vastly  enlarged.  Instead  of  aiming  only  at  the 
salvation  of  the  individual,  she  will  also  aim  con- 
sciously and  directly  at  the  regeneration  of  society. 
With  this  larger  comprehension  and  this  new  aim  she 
will  find  her  old  methods  wholly  inadequate. 

Some  city  churches,  as  they  have  gained  a  larger 
conception  of  the  meaning  of  Christianity  and  of  their 
mission,  have  adopted  new  methods,  as  seen  in  the 
so-called  institutional  churches.  But  these  churches 
find  a  large  amount  of  money  a  prerequisite  for  their 
work.  The  parish  house  with  its  appliances  costs  tens 
of  thousands  of  dollars.  Evidently  few  churches  can 
command  the  necessary  means  for  such  methods.  And 
it  is  equally  evident  that  the  methods  which  are  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  new  era  must  be  practicable  for 
the  ordinary  church.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that 
most  of  the  world's  work,  in  every  walk  of  life,  is  done 
by  ordinary  people.  Unless  the  ordinary  preacher  and 
the  ordinary  church  can  win  success  under  ordinary 
conditions,  Christianity  can  never  conquer  the  world. 
Now  the  average  Protestant  church1  in  this  country  has 
only  about  a  hundred  members ;  and  most  churches  of 
that  size  have  to  struggle  to  meet  ordinary  current 
expenses.  The  methods  of  the  institutional  church, 
therefore,  however  valuable  they  may  be,  are  quite 
beyond  the  ordinary  church. 

>  The  averugu  membership  of  over  80,000  churches  is  found  to  be  104. 


258  THE  NEW  ERA. 

It  is  evident  that  methods  which  are  to  prove  success- 
ful must  be  adapted  to  general  use,  must  overcome  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  reaching  the  masses,  and  must 
enable  the  church  to  accomplish  her  social  mission. 
Methods  capable  of  meeting  these  requirements  can  be 
developed  by  the  application  of  two  fundamental  princi- 
ples, viz.,  (1)  the  proper  recognition  and  use  of  person- 
ality and  (2)  organization.  These  two  principles  spring 
from  man's  constitution  as  an  individual  personally 
accountable  to  God,  and  as  a  social  being  sustaining 
relations  to  his  fellow-men.  Christ  recognized  these 
two  principles  when  he  laid  down  his  two  fundamental 
laws,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  these  are  the  two  principles 
which  have  underlain  and  governed  the  development 
of  civilization.  These  two  principles  the  church  has 
neglected,  and  this  is  the  reason  that  of  the  mighty 
power  which  she  certainly  possesses  nine  tenths,  or 
more  likely  nineteen  twentieths,  lie  latent  and  useless. 

1.  We  must  properly  recognize  and  use  personality. 

The  local  church,  as  a  body,  feels  a  measure  of  re- 
sponsibility for  the  evangelization  of  the  community, 
but  there  is  little  sense  of  individualized  responsibility. 
The  average  church  hires  the  minister  to  love  men  and 
save  them  in  its  stead ;  and  the  average  church  member 
is  under  the  impression  that  all  personal  Christian  ser- 
vice may  be  commuted  for  a  money  consideration.  He 
says  not,  "Here  am  I,  Lord;  send  me,"  but  "Here  is 
my  check ;  send  some  one  else  "  (and  he  doesn't  always 
remember  the  check).  He  forgets  the  parable  of  the 
Good  Samaritan  and  its  lesson.  It  follows  immediately 
the  enunciation  of  the  two  great  laws,  and  was  uttered 
in  answer  to  the  question,  ' '  Who  is  my  neighbor  ? "  It 
may  fairly  be  understood  to  indicate  what  Christ  meant 
by  loving  one's  neighbor  as  one's  self.  The  good 
Samaritan  not  only  had  compassion  on  the  wounded 
man,  but  "went  to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds, 
pouring  in  oil  and  wine,  and  set  him  on  his  own  beast, 
and  brought  him  to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him."  He 
seems  to  have  watched  with  him  all  night,  for  he  did  not 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         259 

leave  until  the  morrow.  He  paid  the  landlord  to  give 
the  sufferer  further  care,  but  it  was  only  after  he  had 
himself  rendered  all  the  personal  service  in  his  power. 

The  modern  Good  Samaritan  feels  for  the  wounded 
wayfarer,  but  he  cannot  possibly  stop  because  he  has  a 
business  engagement  down  town,  and  so  satisfies  his 
conscience  when  he  arrives  at  his  office  by  sending  a 
check  to  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Travellers  robbed 
on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  down  to  Jericho. 

Probably  not  one  out  of  ten  professing  Christians 
accepts  a  personal  responsibility  for  certain  ones  and 
makes  them  the  objects  of  special  prayer  and  effort. 
A  leading  business  man  of  one  of  our  large  cities  re- 
marked that  he  had  not  been  inside  a  church  for  seven- 
teen years,  and  that  during  that  time  no  Christian  had 
addressed  him  personally  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
although  thousands  of  them  had  met  him  in  his  store 
and  in  social  life.  This  is  not  at  all  exceptional.  In  the 
popular  conception  personal  Christian  work  is  not  a 
necessary  part  of  Christian  living.  The  time  ought  to 
come,  and  I  believe  is  coming,  when  it  will  be  deemed 
as  essential  to  a  Christian  life  as  is  common  honesty. 

Individualism  has  directed  its  energies  chiefly  to  the 
establishment  of  rights;  it  is  high  time  to  emphasize 
duties,  for  e^ery  right  is  a  hemisphere  whose  comple- 
ment is  a  corresponding  duty.  The  church  should 
adopt  methods  which  cultivate  a  sense  of  personal  obli- 
gation and  serve  to  individualize  responsibility. 

Most  pastors  do  not  know  how  to  set  their  church 
members  to  work.  Many  members  are  willing,  but 
they  are  like  the  laborers  who  stood  all  the  day  idle  in 
the  vineyard,  not  because  they  were  lazy,  but  because 
no  man  had  hired  them.  The  multitude  lack  initiative. 
It  is  as  true  in  Christian  work  as  in  business,  manufac- 
tures, or  war,  that  the  few  must  plan  and  direct  while 
the  many  are  directed.  And  in  Christian  work,  as  in 
war  or  manufactures,  each  one  of  the  many  should  have 
a  specific  place  and  a  recognized  duty.  "  To  every  man 
his  work." 


260  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Again,  the  church  must  not  only  use  the  power  of 
personality  in  her  membership,  she  must  recognize  the 
personality  of  those  she  would  help.  We  talk  much  of 
saving  the  masses;  they  can  be  saved,  not  as  masses, 
but  only  as  individuals.  In  this  day  of  labor-saving 
machinery,  by  which  each  man's  effectiveness  is  multi- 
plied many-fold  and  immense  results  are  produced  in 
a  few  minutes,  we  look  about  for  some  corresponding 
methods  in  the  moral  world,  some  way  of  elevating 
men  wholesale';  but  character  must  still  be  made  by 
hand. 

If  we  want  to  save  the  criminal  class,  we  must  re- 
member that  it  is  composed  of  individual  criminals, 
each  having  his  own  vicious  habits  to  be  reformed, 
each  having  his  own  corrupted  character  to  be  re-made 
or  rather  re-born.  In  like  manner,  the  pauper  class, 
being  composed  of  individuals  and  families,  can  be 
elevated  only  as  individuals  and  families ;  which  cannot 
be  done  without  a  vast  expenditure  of  patient,  personal 
effort,  wisely  directed.  Laws  may  alleviate  or  greatly 
aggravate  the  disease,  but  only  personal  treatment  can 
cure. 

Here  is  the  perplexing  problem  of  municipal  govern- 
ment. If  we  wish  to  enforce  law  or  reform  abuses  or 
effect  improvements,  everything  depends  on  public 
opinion.  And  when  we  sigh  for  an  enlightened  public 
opinion  and  an  educated  public  conscience,  we  are  re- 
minded that  it  is  individual  opinion  which  is  the  unit  of 
public  opinion.  Thus  the  problem  of  the  city  is,  in  its 
last  analysis,  the  problem  of  the  individual. 

The  saloon,  which  as  a  peril  may  boast  a  base  pre- 
eminence, draws  its  power  from  the  lust  of  gain  on  one 
side  of  the  counter  and  the  lust  of  appetite  on  the  other 
— the  individual  again. 

Thus,  all  of  our  great  moral  problems  and  most  others, 
when  reduced  to  their  lowest  terms,  are  found  to  be  per- 
sonal— problems  of  the  individual. 

These  problems  are  in  most  instances  to  be  studied 
and  solved  in  the  home,  or  what  passes  for  home,  be- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         261 

cause  that  is  where  most  people  are  born  and  live. 
There  are  the  most  determinative  influences  of  life; 
there  are  characteristics,  temperament,  disposition,  ten- 
dencies, instincts,  and  often  appetites  born ;  there  is  the 
atmosphere,  pure  or  poisonous,  in  which  they  grow: 
there  as  nowhere  else  is  felt  the  force  of  example  and 
precept  when  the  young  life  is  most  impressible;  and 
there  in  nearly  every  instance  are  character  and  habits 
formed. 

The  church  and  the  school,  the  public  library  and 
reading-room,  the  gymnasium  and  the  public  bath, 
may  each  do  much  for  the  home,  but  they  all  cannot 
solve  its  problem;  that  must  be  solved  in  the  home 
itself.  And  it  will  be  found  that  many  other  prob- 
lems must  be  solved  there  too,  for  all  our  social 
problems  have  what  has  been  aptly  termed  a  ' '  home 
end."  There  is  no  more  effective  place  to  fight  the 
saloon  than  in  the  home;  for  the  root  of  the  saloon 
runs  back  into  it.  The  wretchedness  of  the  home 
causes  the  saloon  to  flourish,  and  the  saloon  aggravates 
that  wretchedness.  Doubtless  it  will  be  impossible  to 
sink  the  saloon,  in  the  great  cities,  until  the  homes  have 
been  elevated.  In  all  reforms  there  is  occasion  for 
agitation,  and  in  some  for  legislation;  but  all  attempts 
to  elevate  the  masses,  which  fail  to  find  the  home,  are 
more  or  less  superficial.  A  physician  who  is  said  to 
have  made  fifty  thousand  visits  among  New  York  tene- 
ments remarked:  "I  think  if  I  were  going  to  uplift  the 
masses  I  should  first  uplift  the  landlords.  I  would 
make  it  possible  for  each  human  being  that  lives  in  the 
slums  to  have  a  home."  We  cannot  elevate  any  class 
until  we  have  elevated  the  homes  of  that  class. 

If  any  one  asks  how  the  church  is  to  reach  the  indi- 
vidual and  influence  the  ho'me,  we  need  not  go  far 
afield  for  the  answer.  The  individual  must  of  course  be 
found  where  he  is,  viz.,  at  his  home  or  at  his  place  of 
business,  and  the  influence  which  is  to  elevate  the  home 
must  be  exerted  in  the  home.  The  answer,  then,  to  the 
question  is,  house-to-house  -visitation.  Not  a  church 


262  THE  NEW  ERA. 

census  for  facts — that  is  good  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  is 
worthless  unless  followed  up ;  not  simply  an  invitation 
to  church — you  might  as  well  expect  to  transform  an 
island  of  cannibals  into  exemplary  Christian  citizens 
by  issuing  to  them  a  polite  and  neatly  printed  card 
inviting  them  to  accept  Christian  civilization  as  to 
expect  to  transform  a  slum  by  simply  inviting  its 
people  to  church.  The  visits  must  be  for  actual  ac- 
quaintance; they  must  establish  friendly  and  helpful 
relations.  The  visitor  must  win  confidence  before  he 
can  acquire  influence;  and  when  influence  has  been 
gained  it  must  be  used  to  bless  the  family  in  every 
possible  way. 

Octavia  Hill '  urges  the  importance  of  knowing  the 
family  life  of  the  classes  we  wish  to  help  in  their  own 
homes.  While  recognizing  the  value  of  work  for  boys 
or  girls  or  men  in  clubs,  groups  of  people  of  one  kind 
or  another,  she  observes  that  her  workers  almost  with- 
out exception  prefer  work  with  families  in  their  homes 
to  any  other  sphere  whatever.  She  urges  "some  sys- 
tem of  organized  visiting  in  the  homes,  by  those  imbued 
with  thoughts  as  to  wiser  principles  of  work,  and  who 
should  arrange  to  do  many  things  for  a  few  families  in 
a  limited  area,  rather  than  one  thing  for  scattered  indi- 
viduals in  a  larger  area." 

Such  work  cannot  be  done  tp  any  considerable  extent 
by  pastors;  it  is  too  vast  for  their  numbers.  The 
church  membership  must  undertake  it,  and  helpful 
personal  relations  must  be  established  between  them 
and  the  non-church-goers.  This  will  be  the  late  accept- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  church  of  methods  adopted  a 
generation  ago  by  business  men.  Once  the  wholesale 
houses,  manufacturers,  and  railways  waited  for  buyers 
and  shippers  to  find  them,  just  as  the  churches  are  now 
waiting  (though  less  eagerly,  I  fear)  for  non-church- 
goers to  come  to  them.  But  a  few  men,  sent  out  to 
solicit  orders,  so  quickly  and  manifestly  demonstrated 

1  The  Nineteenth  Century  for  August,  1891. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         263 

the  superior  effectiveness  of  going  to  "disciple"  men, 
that  the  methods  of  business  were  speedily  revolution- 
ized. 

This  change  of  method  was  the  natural  outgrowth  of 
our  headlong  life.  The  more  preoccupied  men  become, 
the  more  difficult  is  it  to  divert  thought  from  their 
eager  pursuits  and  gain  attention  to  anything  else; 
hence  the  great  increase  of  personal  solicitation  in  all 
kinds  of  business  which  admit  of  it. 

The  church  still  preserves  the  waiting  attitude.  She 
unlocks  the  door,  rings  the  bell,  posts  "  Strangers  Wel- 
come "  in  a  conspicuous  place,  and  seems  to  think  her 
duty  to  the  non-church-going  public  done.  Her  Ex- 
ample came  "  to  seek  and  to  save."  The  church  says  to 
the  world,  "Come  and  be  discipled."  The  Master  said 
to  the  church,  "  Go  and  disciple." 

Personal  effort  has  always  been  the  most  effective 
form  of  Christian  work,  but  it  is  more  important  in  this 
age  of  intense  living  than  ever  before;  and  it  is  the 
only  way  to  disciple  the  millions  who  never  come 
within  reach  of  the  pulpit. 

But  this  work  cannot  be  successfully  done  hap- 
hazard. If  the  churches  accept  the  first  principle, 
recognize  the  personality  of  the  classes  they  would 
benefit  and  use  the  personality  of  their  membership, 
they  will  find  themselves  forced  to  make  use  of  the 
second  principle,  viz., 

2.  Organization.  In  the  cemetery  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  there  are  more  bodies  than  there  are  men 
jostling  each  other  on  the  adjoining  walks  of  Broad- 
way. But  there  is  no  jostling  on  the  silent  side  of  the 
fence;  no  friction  there;  no  need  that  one  recognize 
the  existence  of  the  other.  Suppose,  however,  that 
on  the  busy  street  men  forget  for  one  moment  that 
there  are  others  about  them ;  let  each  teamster  drive 
as  if  he  alone  had  the  right  of  way,  let  each  foot- 
passenger  ignore  the  existence  of  every  other,  and  in 
one  instant  there  would  be  a  dozen  collisions,  with  loss 
of  temper,  loss  of  time,  loss  of  energy. 


264  THE  NEW  ERA. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  (if  the  reader  will  pardon 
the  bull)  that  many  churches  are  living  together  in 
peace  because  they  are  dead.  Stir  them  with  a  new  pur- 
pose, give  to  them  the  urgency  of  a  new  life,  let  them 
undertake  "to  seek  and  to  save,"  to  "go  and  disciple," 
let  them  accept  and  use  the  principle  of  personality, 
and  if  they  fail  to  recognize  the  existence  of  each  other, 
if  they  neglect  to  come  to  a  mutual  understanding  and 
refuse  to  enter  into  co-operation,  there  will  surely  be 
collision  and  confusion,  a  loss  of  time,  a  waste  of  power. 

The  lack  of  such  understanding  and  co-operation  in 
the  past  has  opened  the  way  to  competition  between 
local  churches  and  denominations,  which  has  resulted 
in  a  congestion  of  churches  among  those  populations 
which  need  them  least  and  a  dearth  of  churches  among 
those  which  need  them  most.  If  all  the  churches  in  the 
United  States  belonged  to  one  denomination,  does  any 
one  suppose  there  would  be  such  a  distribution  of  forces 
as  now  exists — three  or  four  feeble  and  dying  churches 
in  a  little  village  of  only  four  or  five  hundred  inhabi- 
tants, and  in  large  city  populations  only  one  church, 
and  perhaps  none  at  all,  for  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
people  or  even  more  ?  A  few  years  ago  in  a  Colorado 
town  containing  about  five  hundred  souls  there  were 
three  Presbyterian  churches,  a  Northern  Presbyterian, 
a  Reformed  Presbyterian,  and  a  United  Presbyterian 
church,  each  struggling  for  life,  each  a  rival  of  the 
others,  and  all  aided  by  home -missionary  societies, 
while  many  a  frontier  settlement  was  at  the  same  time 
as  churchless  and  as  Godless  as  a  heathen  village  in 
Central  Africa.  Is  there  not  need  of  mutual  under- 
standing and  intelligent  co-operation  among  denomina- 
tions in  order  to  prevent  a  worse  than  useless  waste  of 
men  and  means  ?  So  great  is  the  task  of  Christianizing 
America,  so  great  are  the  problems  of  country  and  city, 
so  great  are  the  perils  which  threaten  our  future,  that 
such  organization  and  co-operation  as  may  be  necessary 
to  the  best  economy  of  power  and  of  all  resources  have 
become  imperative. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         265 

It  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  one  of 
the  most  marked  tendencies  of  the  times  is  toward 
organization,  combination,  co-operation ;  illustrations  of 
which  are  afforded  in  the  consolidation  of  petty  states 
and  principalities  into  empires,  the  organization  of 
immense  standing  armies,  the  growth  of  powerful  cor- 
porations, the  formation  of  new  political  parties,  the 
rise  of  numerous  trusts,  the  unprecedented  growth  of 
cities.  A  tendency  so  universal,  and  which  finds  such 
various  expression,  cannot  be  accidental  or  incidental. 
It  is  the  result  of  definite  causes,  and  will  continue 
while  they  remain  operative.  Organization  and  co- 
operation multiply  effectiveness  many-fold ;  hence  this 
powerful  tendency  toward  them  as  soon  as  rapid  transit 
and  ease  of  communication— steam  and  electricity — 
made  them  possible.  The  great  forces  of  modern  times 
are  those  which  as  organized  forces  have  taken  advan- 
tage of  this  mighty  "tide  in  the  affairs  of  men,"  and 
the  church  must  lay  hold  of  this  same  power  if  she 
would  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  give  direction  to  the 
development  of  society.  Without  it  she  cannot  accom- 
plish her  social  mission.  If  she  is  to  take  seriously  the 
second  law  of  Christ  and  accept  her  full  commission 
to  establish  the  Kingdom,  she  must  apply  both  of  the 
principles,  pointed  out  above,  in  order  to  touch  and 
influence  the  entire  life  of  the  community,  physical, 
industrial,  intellectual,  social,  moral,  and  spiritual. 

These  two  principles  are  so  fundamental  and  their 
full  acceptance  and  use  by  the  churches  are  so  impor- 
tant that  each  will  be  made  the  subject  of  a  subsequent 
chapter.  It  remains  in  this  immediate  connection  only 
to  give  a  few  illustrations  of  their  application. 

Christ,  even  with  his  miraculous  powers,  did  not 
attempt  to  feed  the  multitude  without  system  and 
order.  He  had  them  seated  by  companies,  "in  ranks, 
1  y  hundreds  and  by  fifties."  The  disciples  divided  the 
people  among  themselves,  and  thus  by  personal  ministra- 
tion and  co-operation  under  the  Master's  direction  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  was  reached  and  fed  and  filled. 


266  THE  NEW  ERA. 

In  our  great  cities  are  multitudes,  many  times  five 
thousand,  who  spiritually  are  starving  in  a  desert 
place.  We  say  to  them,  "If  you  want  the  bread  of 
life,  come  to  the  churches  and  get  it" — albeit  our 
churches  would  not  hold  the  half  of  them  if  they  came. 
In  effect  we  say,  "Send  them  away,"  that  is,  let  them 
shift  for  themselves.  But  Christ's  command  is,  "Give 
ye  them  to  eat."  One  reason  we  fail  is  because  we  dis- 
regard Christ's  method,  which  is  as  good  for  the  nine- 
teenth century  as  for  the  first.  Is  not  his  command 
laid  upon  us  to  systematize  our  work,  to  divide  the 
multitude  into  companies,  and  let  Christ's  disciples 
reach  them,  every  one,  by  co-operation  in  personal 
ministrations  ? 

A  modern  application  of  these  two  principles  was 
only  less  remarkable  in  its  results  than  the  feeding  of 
the  five  thousand.  At  the  close  of  the  late  war,  in  1865, 
an  organization  was  formed  in  New  York  City  to  aid  dis- 
abled soldiers,  and  the  widows  and  orphans  of  men  who 
had  fallen  in  the  struggle.  Its  membership  was  limited 
to  twenty-five  women,  who  held  a  weekly  meeting  and 
called  weekly  on  the  families  they  tried  to  benefit. 
Their  efforts  were  soon  enlisted  in  behalf  of  some  three 
hundred  soldiers'  families,  which  were  divided  among 
the  visitors  for  personal  study  and  endeavor.  Soldiers' 
widows  and  orphans  were  found  living  in  garrets  and 
cellars,  oftentimes  sick  and  utterly  destitute.  Medical 
aid  was  secured  when  needed.  Situations  were  found 
for  daughters,  widows,  or  wives.  Sometimes  a  crippled 
soldier  was  started  in  business  in  a  small  way.  Many 
pensions  were  secured.  Mothers  were  taught  how  to 
expend  their  money  to  the  best  advantage,  how  to 
clothe  and  care  for  their  children.  Girls  were  taught 
to  sew.  Children  were  assisted  to  an  education.  Fam- 
ilies were  given  higher  conceptions  of  the  meaning  and 
possibilities  of  life,  and  inspired  with  hope  and  a  worthy 
ambition.  Thus  in  many  ways  these  families  were 
helped  up  above  the  need  of  help.  A  few  who  proved 
themselves  wholly  unworthy  were  dropped,  but  the 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         267 

great  majority  were  made  self-dependent,  and  some  of 
these  families  have  acquired  wealth.  Thus  in  a  quarter 
of  a  century  many  hundreds  of  soldiers'  families  were 
rescued  from  poverty  and  wretchedness  by  the  personal 
efforts  and  self-giving  of  twenty-five  co-operating 
women.  And  if  such  a  work  is  possible  to  so  few,  what 
is  impossible  to  the  reserve  forces  in  our  churches, 
when  brought  to  accept  these  two  cardinal  principles 
of  personal  contact  and  co-operation?  Both  are  alike 
necessary.  Without  the  strength,  the  helpful  sugges- 
tions, the  contagion  of  enthusiasm  which  come  from 
co-operation,  the  courage  of  these  women  would  soon 
have  failed  and  their  personal  work  have  been  aban- 
doned; and  without  that  personal  life-giving  touch, 
their  co-operation  would  have  amounted  to  nothing. 

Permit  one  more  illustration  of  the  application  of 
these  principles — this  on  a  large  scale,  with  correspond- 
ingly large  results. 

The  growth  of  the  Salvation  Army  is  so  phenomenal 
as  to  demand  explanation.  "  It  began,"  says  Canon 
Farrar,1  "  in  the  labors  of  a  single  friendless  Dissenting 
minister,  without  name,  without  fame,  without  rank, 
without  influence,  without  eloquence ;  a  man  poor  and 
penniless,  in  weak  health,  burdened  with  delicate  chil- 
dren, and  disowned  by  his  own  connection:  it  now 
numbers  multitudes  of  earnest  evangelists.  It  began 
in  an  East  End  rookery,  and  in  less  than  twenty  years 
it  has  gone  '  from  New  Zealand  right  round  to  San 
Francisco,  and  from  Cape  Town  to  Nordkoping.'  It 
has  shelters,  refuges,  penitentiaries,  food  depots,  sister- 
hoods and  brotherhoods,  already  established  in  the 
slums.  It  has  elevated  thousands  of  degraded  lives. 
It  has  given  hope  and  help  to  myriads  of  hopeless  and 
helpless  outcasts."  The  official  statistics  of  the  Army, 
under  date  of  October  1,  1891,  show  10,795  officers,  who 
give  all  their  time  to  the  work,  laboring  in  thirty-eight 
countries  and  colonies,  and  using  thirty-four  languages ; 

1  Harper't  Magazine,  May,  1891. 


268  THE  NEW  ERA. 

4595  societies  (corps  and  posts);  2,098,631  meetings  held 
annually;  2,747,576  homes  annually  visited;  "War 
Crys,"  etc.,  circulated  in  one  year  43, 682, 596.  The  Army 
pays  over  $1,000,000  rental  annually.  It  owns  almost 
$4,000,000  of  property,  and  has  an  annual  income  of 
$3,645,000.'  Its  meetings,  which  are  held  in  the  open  air 
and  in  4000  halls,  are  attended  every  week  by  millions, 
while  something  like  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  hopeful 
conversions  have  been  reported.  And  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  this  amazing  success,  which  would  be 
phenomenal  in  any  class  of  society,  has  been  had  among 
those  whom  the  churches  have  conspicuously  failed  to 
reach.  Surely  the  churches  ought  to  be  able  to  learn 
something  from  the  Salvation  Army.  Accounting  for 
General  Booth's  success,  Canon  Farrar  says:  "The 
reasons  are  manifold,  but  the  two  chief  reasons  are: 
first,  that  he  recognized  a  tremendous  need ;  and  next, 
that  instead  of  acquiescing  in  impotence,  as  most  men 
do,  he  determined  to  grapple  with  that  need  by  new 
and  unconventional  methods."  2 

Now,  the  most  essential  of  General  Booth's  methods, 
or  rather  the  two  fundamental  principles  underlying 
them,  are  aggressive  personal  effort  and  organization. 
Speaking  of  the  processes  by  which  this  great  Army 
has  been  made,  he  says3:  "The  foundation  of  all  the 
Army's  success,  looked  at  apart  from  its  divine  source 
of  strength,  is  its  continued  direct  attack  upon  those 
whom  it  seeks  to  bring  under  the  influence  of  the 
Gospel.  The  Salvation  Army  officer,  instead  of  stand- 
ing upon  some  dignified  pedestal,  to  describe  the  fallen 
condition  of  his  fellow-men,  in  the  hope  that,  though  far 
from  him,  they  may  thus,  by  some  mysterious  process, 
come  to  a  better  life,  goes  down  into  the  street,  and 
from  door  to  door,  and  from  room  to  room,  lays  his 
hands  on  those  who  are  spiritually  sick,  and  leads  them 


1  F.  P.  Noble,  The  Missionary  Revieiv,  March,  1892. 

2  Harper's  Magazine,  May,  1891. 

'  In  Darkest  England,  Appendix,  p.  vi. 


TUB  NECESSITY  OF  NEW  METHODS.         269 

to  the  Almighty  Healer."  The  Army  thus  makes  nearly 
3,000,000  visits  from  house  to  house  in  a  single  year. 

The  other  principle,  that  of  organization,  is  no  less 
essential  or  obvious.  The  organization  of  the  Salvation 
Army  would  seem  to  be  as  complete  and  effective  as 
that  of  the  British  Army.  Indeed,  Lord  Wolseley  has 
declared  General  Booth  to  be  the  greatest  organizing 
genius  of  these  twenty -five  years. 

The  human  instrumentalities  of  this  astonishing  suc- 
cess are  several.  Every  rescued  man  is  trained  to  join 
in  the  work  of  rescue,  which  ought  to  characterize  the 
church  always  and  everywhere  in  simple  obedience  to 
the  command,  "Let  him  that  heareth  say,  'Come.'" 
The  Army  gives  expression  to  the  spirit  of  Christian 
brotherhood,  which  the  church  ought  to  do  far  more 
fully  than  it  does.  It  utilizes  the  ministrations  of 
women,  which  is  equally  the  privilege  and  wisdom  of 
the  church.  It  appeals  to  self-sacrifice,  which  when  the 
church  fails  to  do,  it  misses  the  spirit  and  teaching  of 
its  Master.  It  arouses  an  enthusiasm  for  humanity, 
which  makes  service  glad  and  persistent;  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  it  recognizes  personality  and  lays  hold  of  the 
strength  and  effectiveness  of  organization. 

The  Salvation  Army  has  no  patent  on  these  principles 
or  instrumentalities;  they  are  equally  available  to  the 
church.  I  am  not  urging  that  the  church  adopt  any  of 
the  fanciful  methods  of  the  Army,  but  that  she  recog- 
nize and  accept  the  principles  which  underlie  the  suc- 
cess of  this  great  movement,  whose  application  would 
necessitate  the  methods  advocated  above.  If  these  prin- 
ciples are  generally  adopted  by  the  churches,  a  new 
movement  may  be  expected  to  follow,  which  would  be 
as  much  broader  than  that  of  the  Army  as  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  would  be  broader.  The  Army 
was  intended  to  reach  the  lowest  classes  only:  this 
movement  would  reach  all  classes.  The  Army  preaches 
the  Gospel  to  the  poor:  by  the  methods  advocated,  not 
only  the  wretched  poor  but  also  the  poor  rich,  the  most 
neglected  class  in  the  community,  would  have  the 


270  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Gospel  preached  to  them.  The  work  of  the  Army  is 
remedial :  this  movement  would  prove  to  be  both  reme- 
dial and  preventive;  for,  with  the  new  social  ideal 
afforded  by  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  with  the  fixed  deter- 
mination of  the  church  to  destroy  the  evils  of  society, 
with  the  strength  and  efficiency  which  would  follow  the 
organization  and  general  co-operation  of  the  churches, 
their  contact  with  the  entire  life  of  the  community, 
through  personal  toucl},  would  prove  to  be  a  method  of 
developing  methods  by  which  the  teachings  of  Christ 
might  be  applied  to  all  human  relations  and  institutions, 
so  transforming  society  that  the  "tenth"  or  the  twen- 
tieth would  be  no  longer  "submerged." 

I  believe  that  I  appreciate  in  some  measure  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  problems  which  await  solution ;  I  am  not 
blind  to  the  perils  which  threaten  us ;  yet  such  is  my 
confidence  in  the  saving  power  of  the  complete  Gospel, 
that  in  my  very  soul  I  believe  a  single  generation  will 
suffice  to  solve  the  problem  of  pauperism,  to  Avipe  out 
the  saloon,  to  inaugurate  a  thousand  needed  reforms, 
and  really  change  the  -face  of  society,  provided  only  the 
churches  generally  enter  into  this  movement. 

Society  is  to  be  regenerated;  the  earth  is  to  be 
cleansed  from  the  sweat  of  oppressive  toil,  the  vomit 
of  vice,  the  blood  of  violence,  which  now  cry  from  the 
ground  unto  God.  The  church  has  largely  "held  her 
peace,"  and  "enlargement  and  deliverance  are  arising 
from  another  place."  Why  should  not  the  church 
accept  her  mission?  Cannot  the  Bride  of  Christ  be 
persuaded  to  put  on  her  beautiful  garments,  and,  like 
Queen  Esther,  setting  aside  conventionalities,  appear 
for  the  salvation  of  the  people — her  people  ?  Surely, 
one  would  think  she  had  come  to  the  Kingdom  for  such 
a  time  as  this  ! 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  NECESSITY  OP  PERSONAL  CONTACT. 

DEMOCRACY  is  not  fraternity,  and  does  not  prevent 
the  formation  of  social  classes,  quite  distinct  and  far 
separated. 

Though  we  have  no  hereditary  aristocracy  in  Amer- 
ica, we  have  our  aristocracies  none  the  less.  There  is 
one  of  wealth,  one  of  intelligence,  one  of  character; 
and  though  members  of  the  so-called  higher  and  lower 
classes  are  constantly  exchanging  places,  the  classes 
themselves  remain  fixed. 

It  is  not  strange  that  in  a  general  way  these  several 
lines  of  cleavage  coincide.  Of  course  there  are  many 
poor  who  are  of  the  highest  character  and  intelligence, 
and  many  rich  who  are  ignorant  and  vicious ;  but  as  we 
have  already  seen,  speaking  broadly,  it  is  the  well-to-do 
people  who  are  in  the  churches,  and  they  as  a  rule  are 
the  most  intelligent.  It  happens,  therefore,  that  church 
lines  and  social  lines  very  nearly  coincide,  so  that  con- 
ditions of  life  and  tastes  co-operate  with  religious  con- 
victions and  habits  to  separate  class  from  class. 

There  is  very  little  contact  between  workingmen  and 
church  members  except  in  business,  which  under  com- 
petition is  more  likely  to  exercise  and  exhibit  a  man's 
selfishness  than  his  Christian  character,  and  there  is 
still  less  contact  between  the  women  of  different 
classes ;  they  are  social  antipodes,  if  indeed  they  do  not 
live  in  different  worlds  altogether. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  masses  are  indifferent 
toward  the  church :  they  are  ignorant  of  it.  It  is  not 
strange  that  many  hate  religion  as  represented  by  the 

271 


272  THE  NEW  ERA. 

church:  it  has  been  misrepresented.  Richard  Baxter's 
criticism,  made  more  than  two  centuries  ago,  is  equally 
applicable  to-day.  "The  work  of  the  church,"  he  says, 
"is  exceedingly  retarded  by  an  unworthy  retiredness. 
Christians  live  like  snails  in  the  shell,  and  look  but 
little  around  into  the  world,  and  know  not  the  state  of 
the  world  nor  of  the  church,  nor  much  care  to  know  it. 
.  .  .  Many  ministers  are  of  such  retiring  disposition? 
that  they  scarcely  ever  look  beyond  the  border  of  theii 
own  parishes." 

Such  separation  of  the  church  from  the  world  is 
Judaic,  not  Christian.  Under  the  Mosaic  regime  the 
idea  of  purity  was  expressed  by  separation.  That 
people  which  was  to  be  the  medium  of  God's  blessing 
to  the  world  was  separated  from  other  peoples,  and 
a  wall  of  exclusion  built  up  by  legislation.  The  tribe 
especially  chosen  to  serve  the  sanctuary  was  set  apart 
for  that  service.  The  vessels  also  which  were  purified 
for  that  service  were  set  apart,  and  that  portion  of  the 
Tabernacle  and  of  the  Temple  which  was  holiest  of  all 
was  farthest  removed  from  the  people.  This  idea  o1 
purity  by  separation  culminated  in  the  Pharisee,  whose 
name  means  separatist. 

Christ  had  a  different  idea  of  purity.  He  associated 
with  "publicans  and  sinners"  and  by  that  association 
transformed  them.  Moses  would  maintain  the  purity 
of  a  'part  by  separation.  Christ  would  secure  the 
purity  of  the  whole  by  contact  and  transformation 
His  emblem  was  not  water,  which  is  made  impure  bj 
that  which  it  purifies,  but  light,  salt,  leaven :  not  con 
tamination  by  contact,  but  permeation,  purification, 
transformation  by  contact. 

Under  the  old  dispensation  goodness  was  separated 
and  guarded  from  evil,  and  needed  to  be,  because  it 
was  negative.  Moses  said,  "Thou  shalt  not."  Christ 
said,  "Thou  shalt."  Under  the  Mosaic  dispensation  he 
who  did  no  evil  was  a  good  man.  Under  Christ  he  who 
does  no  good  is  a  bad  man.  Note  the  ground  of  con- 
demnation in  Christ's  picture  of  the  final  judgment. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT.     273 

In  every  instance  men  are  condemned  for  what  they  did 
not  do.  The  Judge  does  not  say,  "  Ye  robbed  me  of 
food  and  drink  and  stripped  me  of  raiment,"  but  "Ye 
gave  me  no  meat;  ye  gave  me  no  drink;  ye  clothed 
me  not."  He  does  not  say,  "  Ye  cast  me  out,"  but  "  Ye 
took  me  not  in;  "  not  "Ye  thrust  me  into  prison/'  but 
"  Ye  visited  me  not."1  Men  say,  "  Only  a  sin  of  omis- 
sion; "  but  in  this  vision  of  judgment  sins  of  omission 
alone  appear  in  the  indictment.  Christ's  parables  are 
full  of  the  same  teaching ;  again  and  again  he  empha- 
sizes the  guilt  of  not  doing.  It  is  not  enough  that  a 
disciple  of  Christ  go  about  doing  no  harm.  Like  his 
Master,  he  must  go  about  doing  good.  Not  enough  that 
he  do  no  ill  to  his  neighbor  :  he  must  love  his  neighbor 
as  himself. 

Under  Moses,  goodness,  being  to  so  great  a  degree 
negative,  was  put  on  the  defensive.  It  had  not  suf- 
ficient force  to  overcome  surrounding  evil.  Contact 
meant  contamination;  hence  the  law  of  separation; 
purity  must  be  preserved  by  isolation.  But  Christian 
goodness  is  positive,  active,  aggressive,  outgoing.  To 
such  goodness  contact  means,  not  contamination,  but 
opportunity.  Much  of  our  modern  goodness  is  Mosaic. 
It  is  like  the  goodness  of  the  anchoret,  which  requires 
for  its  preservation  that  all  the  world  be  quarantined 
from  it.  We  need  a  goodness  of  the  positive,  penetrat- 
ing, self-communicating  sort,  more  active  than  the 
principle  of  evil ;  in  short,  a  Christian  goodness. 

Because  God  is  love  he  is  self-giving;  because  his 
goodness  is  of  this  positive  sort  he  seeks  to  communi- 
cate himself.  Because  the  knowledge  and  service  of 
God  are  the  highest  possible  human  wisdom,  and  the 
love  of  God  is  the  highest  possible  human  blessedness, 
and  likeness  to  God  is  the  highest  possible  human 
beauty,  he  has  ever  sought  to  reveal  himself  to  men. 
We  imagine  that  he  hides  himself,  that  he  has  pur- 
posely forbidden  to  the  senses  any  perception  of  him. 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  41-46. 


274  THE  NEW  ERA. 

On  the  contrary,  he  has  striven,  it  seems  to  me,  in 
every  possible  way  to  make  himself  known.  We  are 
like  a  blind  man  groping  for  the  light  and  complaining 
that  it  eludes  him,  while  it  is  pouring  about  him  in  a 
mighty  flood,  beating  upon  his  sightless  eyes  and  seek- 
ing to  fill  them  with  day.  God  is  seeking  by  every  pos- 
sible avenue  to  enter  every  mind  and  heart.  He  has 
revealed  himself  in  creation,  in  his  providence,  in  the 
Scriptures.  But  because  he  is  a  person  he  is  more 
clearly  revealed  through  a  person  than  in  any  other 
way.  He  utters  himself  in  nature  by  a  thousand 
voices,  but  to  most  men  these  voices  are  inarticulate 
and  even  inaudible.  Things  are  too  unlike  God  to  ex- 
press him.  Jeremy  Taylor  says,  "When  God  would 
save  a  man  he  does  it  by  way  of  a  man."  That  is 
because  a  man  can  reveal  God  better  than  all  created 
things.  They  can  tell  of  his  wisdom  and  power,  but 
cannot  utter  his  love.  "  The  heavens  declare  his  glory,'' 
but  it  is  the  glory  of  his  intellect,  not  of  his  heart. 
Men  had  gained  only  glimpses  of  God's  heart  until 
Christ  came  into  the  world:  he  was  the  Word  that 
fully  uttered  the  love  of  the  Father ;  and  as  the  Father 
sent  Christ  into  the  world,  so  Christ  sends  his  followers 
into  the  world — as  revealers  of  God,  and  especially 
as  revealers  of  the  Father's  love.  Christian  living  is 
simply  the  revelation  of  the  divine  Person  through  a 
person  to  persons.  As  Dr.  Parkhurst  says,1  "Every 
Christian  is  a  divine  incarnation  brought  down  to 
date."  Filled  with  God  and  his  love,  the  Christian  is 
to  save  men  by  a  divine  contagion,  living  touch.  He  is 
God's  leaven,  and  leaven  must  be  mingled  with  the 
meal.  He  is  God's  salt,  and  salt  can  save  only  by 
actual  touch.  There  is  salt  enough  in  the  world,  but  it 
is  barrelled  up  in  the  churches,  and  needs  to  be  scattered 
and  applied.  It  is  not  enough  to  yearn  over  men  at  a 
distance.  Even  God's  mighty  love  could  save  men  only 


1  Address  before  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  Boston,  "  National  Needs  and 
Remedies,"  p.  313. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     275 

as  it  came  to  them  in  human  form  and  uttered  itself  by 
human  lips;  heaven  must  needs  touch  earth. 

Now,  if  we  are  to  be  God's  lips,  his  revealers  to  men, 
the  channels  through  which  his  love  is  to  flow  into 
men's  hearts,  we  must  come  into  personal  touch  with 
them,  because  men's  relations  to  God  are  personal. 

His  knowledge  of  us  is  personal.  We  generalize;  we 
know  classes,  genera,  species;  we  know  sparrows,  but 
not  the  individual  birds;  we  know  grasses,  but  not 
individual  blades  of  grass.  We  thoughtlessly  imagine 
that  God's  knowledge  is  like  our  own,  but  omniscience 
necessarily  descends  to  particulars;  such  knowledge 
must  be  individual.  God  knows  every  sparrow,  not 
one  falls  to  the  ground  without  his  notice;  he  knows 
every  blade  of  grass.  He  does  not  have  to  lump  men, 
as  we  do,  in  order  to  think  of  mankind.  He  calls  us 
each  by  name;  no  one  of  us  is  ever  lost  in  the  crowd. 

God's  requirements  are  personal.  Human  govern- 
ments enact  laws  in  general  terms  for  the  whole  people. 
God's  law  is  personal.  The  Ten  Commandments  and 
the  Two  Fundamental  Laws  of  Christ  are  individual 
in  form— not  "They"  or  "Ye,"  but  "Tnou":  "  Thou 
shalt  not,"  and  "  Tlwu  shalt." 

God's  love  is  personal.  He  says,  "My  sow,  give  me 
thine  heart."  No  relations  can  be  more  personal  than 
those  between  parent  and  child. 

His  redemption  is  personal.  Jesus  Christ  tasted 
death  "  for  every  man."  ' 

And  God  has  too  much  respect  even  for  the  finally 
impenitent  to  condemn  them  en  masse.  "Every  one  of 
us  shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God." " 

Men  who  are  strangers  to  God  do  not  feel  the  close- 
ness and  personality  of  their  relations  to  him.  He 
seems  to  them  unreal  or  at  best  far  away.  His  relations 
to  men  seem  general  and  vague.  The  moment  they 
are  made  to  seem  personal,  the  truth  becomes  real  and 
powerful.  How  can  any  man  come  into  right  relations 

'  Heb.  il.  9  »  Rom.  xiv.  12. 


?76  THE  NEW  ERA. 

with  God  until  he  apprehends  those  relations  as  real 
and  personal  ?  He  may  believe  that  all  men  are  sinners, 
and  sin  on.  He  never  utters  the  cry  of  the  penitent 
publican  until  it  has  been  borne  in  on  him  that  he  is  a 
sinner.  He  may  believe  that  God  loves  the  world  and 
remain  indifferent;  but  when  you  make  him  feel  that 
God  loves  him,  then  the  truth  takes  hold. 

The  great  problem  of  evangelization  is  to  bring  every 
man  of  the  multitude  into  right  relations  with  God,  to 
make  him  appreciate  in  some  measure  the  closeness 
and  personality  of  his  relations  to  God,  and  then  induce 
him  to  act  on  his  convictions.  To  do  this  is  pre-emi- 
nently the  work  of  personal  persuasion.  Many  a  man 
has  read  with  indifference  the  appeals  of  the  printed 
page,  and  listened  unmoved  to  powerful  sermons,  who 
has  yielded  to  a  single  word  addressed  to  him  person- 
ally. The  mind  seems  to  have  a  mysterious  power  to 
reach  another  mind  through  some  medium  other  than 
that  of  the  five  senses,  and  which  Sir  William  Thomson 
calls  a  sixth  sense.  In  addition  to  the  persuasion  of 
words,  will  exerts  a  remarkable  power  over  will.  The 
laws  of  its  operation  are  unknown,  but  the  fact  is  well 
established.  The  living  man  has  a  power  which  his 
printed  words  cannot  possess,  personal  persuasion  is 
effective  far  beyond  all  other. 

I\  is  life  that  begets  life,  love  that  begets  love,  char- 
acter that  leavens  character.  It  was  not  enough  that 
Elisha  send  his  servant  to  lay  his  staff  on  the  dead  boy : 
the  living  prophet  must  stretch  himself  upon  the  lifeless 
body  if  he  would  quicken  it.  It  was  not  enough  that 
God  send  his  messengers :  he  must  needs  come  himself 
in  the  life-giving  power  of  personality.  And  this  neces- 
sity of  incarnation  is  upon  us :  we  must  enter  into  other 
lives,  share  their  lives  with  them,  give  our  lives  to 
them,  if  we  would  bless. 

It  is  now  being  discovered  in  every  department  of 
charitable  and  philanthropic  work  what  an  immense 
blunder  it  has  been  to  substitute  machinery  for  per- 
sonal, vital  touch.  It  is  being  shown  that  personality  is 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     27? 

the  great  power  in  all  redemptive  work ;  and  Toynbee 
Hall,  in  the  East  End  of  London ;  the  College  Settlement 
in  Rivington  Street,  New  York ;  Hull  House,  in  one  of 
the  worst  wards  of  Chicago;  and  the  Andover  Settle 
ment,  in  the  slums  of  Boston,  are  all  outgrowths  of  this 
discovery— points  where  that  which  is  best  and  most 
Christian  in  our  civilization  has,  so  to  speak,  incarnated 
itself  amid  the  gross  and  wretched  life  of  our  great 
cities,  that  by  personal  contact  the  higher  might  help 
up  the  lower.  The  heroic  Mr.  Adams  and  his  wife, 
living  in  the  midst  of  40,000  Bohemians  in  Chicago,  and 
the  no  less  heroic  "  slum  sisters"  of  the  Salvation  Army, 
sharing  the  poverty  of  the  lives  they  long  to  bless,  are 
in  their  own  persons  revelations  of  God,  and  are  demon- 
strating to  us  what  has  been  demonstrated  to  every 
generation  since  Christ,  that  his  personal  love  and  sacri- 
fice can  be  shown  by  the  personal  love  and  sacrifice 
of  his  followers  to  the  most  ignorant,  hardened,  and 
vicious,  and  that  with  saving  power. 

Christ  in  the  flesh  personally  touched  the  sick,  the 
maimed,  the  leprous:  so  his  body  in  the  world  to  day 
needs  to  be  brought  into  actual  personal  touch  with  the 
world's  miseries. 

This  personal  touch  the  church  has  largely  lost.  This 
personal  power  is  precisely  what  the  great  majority  of 
our  church  members  suffer  to  lie  unused.  Its  exercise 
is  not  laid  on  the  conscience  of  most  professing  Chris- 
tians as  a  necessary  part  of  Christian  living.  There  are 
hundreds  of  thousands  in  our  churches  who  ten,  twenty, 
or  forty  years  ago  professed  to  give  themselves — time, 
powers,  and  possessions — to  Christ's  service,  who  have 
never  even  invited  a  soul  to  him.  Yet  they  could  get 
for  the  asking  letters  stating  that  they  are  in  "good 
and  regular  standing."  They  are  supposed,  both  by 
themselves  and  others,  to  have  discharged  their  duty  to 
the  unchurched  multitude  through  the  contribution-box. 

We  make  societies  our  representatives,  and  our  bene- 
factions flow  through  established  channels  to  remote 
and  impersonal  objects.  We  do  well  to  rejoice  in  such 


278  THE  NEW  ERA. 

far-reaching  mediums  of  influence,  but  we  do  ill  to  be 
satisfied  with  them ;  and  we  do  ill  to  imagine  that  our 
money  is  accepted  as  a  substitute  for  personal  service  as 
revealers  of  God.  I  know  a  pastor  who  said  he  could 
get  a  million  dollars  from  his  church  for  a  Christian 
enterprise,  but  could  not  get  from  them  personal  Chris- 
tian service. 

The  story  is  told  that  Pope  Innocent  IV.  was  once 
counting  a  large  sum  of  money  in  coin  when  Saint 
Thomas  Aquinas  was  ushered  in.  His  Holiness  re- 
marked, "You  see  the  church  can  no  longer  say  with 
Saint  Peter,  'Silver  and  gold  have  I  none.'  "  To  which 
the  Angelic  Doctor  replied,  "Neither  can  she  any 
longer  say  with  him,  '  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth,  rise  up  and  walk.'  "  Just  so  far  as  Christian 
men  make  their  money  gifts  a  substitute  for  personal 
service,  the  church  loses  the  power  to  lay  hold  of  the 
prostrate  by  the  right  hand  and  lift  them  up. 

The  laity  imagine  that  the  minister  is  their  represent- 
ative in  personal  Christian  work.  They  attend  to  the 
salary,  he  attends  to  the  religion;  religion  is  his  busi- 
ness, not  theirs.  Just  here  crops  out  again  that  old  and 
pernicious  distinction  between  the  "sacred"  and  the 
"secular."  Laymen  think  the  clergy  should  be  more 
consecrated  than  they,  should  have  higher  aims,  should 
lead  holier  lives,  should  be  channels  of  divine  grace  as 
laymen  cannot  be.  Our  Protestant  churches  are  only 
half  reformed  from  the  Roman  Catholic  errors  concern- 
ing the  priesthood. 

"Hardly  anything  has  transpired  in  the  history  of 
the  Christian  church,"  says  Dr.  Parkhurst,  "that  has 
done  more  to  arrest  its  growth  than  the  springing  up  of 
that  kind  of  discrimination  between  clergy  and  laity 
that  distinguishes  the  two  from  one  another,  not  simply 
in  function — which  is  reasonable  and  scriptural  enough 
— but  in  their  respective  relations  to  the  God-spirit  con- 
sidered as  a  personal  tenant,  inspirer,  actuator  in  the 
individual  life  and  activity.  .  .  .  The  sharp  distinction 
now  made  between  clergy  and  laity  did  not  exist  even 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     279 

in  thought  in  apostolic  days,  nor  for  a  considerable  time 
after,  and  when  it  did  come  it  came  as  a  device  of  the 
devil  to  minimize  the  number  of  them  who  should  make 
large  spiritual  attainment,  to  the  end  of  minimizing  the 
number  of  them  who  should  feel  large  spiritual  respon- 
sibility. .  .  .  From  that  time  on  the  clergy  have  made 
it  more  or  less  of  a  business  to  be  holy  and  preach  the 
Gospel,  and  the  laity  have  made  it  more  or  less  of  a 
business  to  make  money,  enjoy  themselves,  pay  their 
pew  rent  and  solace  themselves  with  an  evangelical 
vicarage." ' 

When  our  Great  High  Priest  cried  "It  is  finished," 
"  the  vail  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain,  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom."  There  was  to  be  no  more  priestly 
monopoly;  even  the  holiest  place  was  thrown  open  to 
the  people.  Sacred  offices  arid  places  were  not  hence- 
forth to  be  common  and  unclean,  but  the  people  were 
to  be  set  apart  for  the  divine  service.  There  are  no 
common  people  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  the  sons  of 
the  Highest  are  all  kings  and  priests  unto  him.  It  was 
to  all  believers  that  Peter  wrote,  "Ye  are  a  royal 
priesthood."  3  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  kingdom  of 
priests. 

The  clergyman  appropriately  differs  from  the  layman 
in  certain  functions  of  his  office,  but  as  witnesses  of 
Christ,  as  revealers  of  God,  as  saviotirs  of  men,  clergy- 
man and  layman  hold  one  and  the  same  commission 
and  are  on  precisely  the  same  footing.  My  obligation 
to  disciple  men  to  Jesus  Christ  rests  on  me,  not  because 
I  am  a  clergyman,  but  because  I  myself  am  a  disciple. 
"  Let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come." 3  If  you  have 
accepted  the  invitation,  there  is  your  commission  to 
extend  it. 

The  great  command,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature,"  seems  to  have 
been  addressed,  not  to  the  eleven  apostles  only,  but  also 

1  Address  before  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  Boston,  "  National  Needs  and 
Remedies,"  pp.  314,  315. 

»  1  Peter  II.  9.  »  Rev.  xxtt.  17. 


280  THE  NEW  ERA. 

to  "them  that  were  with  them,"  '  that  is,  to  the  whole 
body  of  believers.  And  this  seems  to  have  been  the 
understanding  of  the  early  Christians,  for  when  the 
persecution  which  followed  the  death  of  Stephen  scat- 
tered the  church  which  was  in  Jerusalem  "except  the 
apostles,'''  "  they  that  were  scattered  abroad  [the  laity] 
went  everywhere  preaching  the  word." '  This  cer- 
tainly was  lay  preaching.  They  had  received  the 
diploma  of  no  theological  seminary,  they  had  passed 
the  examinations  of  no  ecclesiastical  body,  there  had 
been  no  laying  on  of  consecrating  hands.  They  had 
themselves  accepted  the  invitation,  and  were  therefore 
bound  to  extend  it.  Their  fitness  to  proclaim  the  King- 
dom lay  simply  in  the  fact  that  they  had  become 
citizens  of  it.  That  Christ  deemed  this  a  sufficient 
qualification  appears  from  the  fact  that  he  said  to  one 
who  had  only  just  made  a  profession  of  loyalty,  "  Go 
thou  and  preach  the  kingdom  of  God."  3 

An  educated  ministry  is  necessary  for  the  edification 
of  the  church.  I  am  not  arguing  against  that,  but 
against  the  paralyzing  impression  that  only  those  are 
under  obligations  to  disciple  men  to  Christ  who  have 
had  a  course  of  special  training  therefor.  The  Fran- 
ciscan friars  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  itinerant 
Methodist  preachers  in  the  eighteenth,  and  the  Salva- 
tion Army  in  the  nineteenth  have  all  demonstrated  the 
efficiency  of  generally  uneducated  men  in  evangelistic 
work. 

If  the  millions  of  church  members  in  this  country 
were  each  one  revealers  of  God,  how  soon  would  he 
be  made  known  to  the  multitude  !  But  there  is  no  such 
freedom  of  spiritual  communication  as  of  every  other 
kind.  The  printing-press  has  been  a  mighty  stimulus 
to  intellectual  life  because  it  brings  mind  into  contact 
with  mind.  The  locomotive  and  the  steamship  have 
enormously  quickened  our  material  civilization  because 
they  have  so  facilitated  communication.  There  has 

'  Luke  xxiv.  33-50.  "  Acts  vili.  1,4.  »  Luke  ix.  60. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT.     281 

been  no  corresponding  progress  in  spiritual  intercourse. 
The  church  and  the  masses  lie  apart  like  two  great 
continents,  with  an  almost  untraversed  ocean  between. 
When  there  is  accomplished,  by  means  of  personal  con- 
tact between  the  church  and  the  multitude,  a  spiritual 
intercommunication  corresponding  in  some  good  degree 
to  the  freedom  of  intercourse  already  established  in  the 
intellectual  and  material  worlds,  we  may  reasonably 
expect  results  in  our  spiritual  life  corresponding  in 
magnitude  to  the  intellectual  and  material  results  pro- 
duced by  the  printing-press,  the  telegraph,  and  the 
railway. 

1.  Such  personal  intercourse  is  needed  for  its  effects 
on  the  church. 

It  is  impossible  to  have  spiritual  health  without 
spiritual  exercise.  It  is  complained  that  the  majority 
of  church  members  are  spiritually  weak  and  have  little 
appetite  for  the  strong  meat  of  the  Word.  If  they  were 
as  inactive  physically  as  they  are  spiritually,  they  would 
soon  become  helpless  invalids,  unable  to  take  any  food 
stronger  than  water-gruel.  Exercise  quickens  respira- 
tion and  sharpens  appetite,  and  more  food  assimilated 
increases  strength.  The  laws  of  health  are  much  the 
same  for  the  spiritual  and  physical  man.  Increased 
spiritual  activity  leads  to  more  prayer,  "  the  Christian's 
vital  breath,"  and  arouses  an  appetite  for  the  work, 
feeding  on  which  the  Christian  grows  healthy  and 
strong. 

The  laity  are  suffering  from  a  great  number  of  spirit- 
ual ailments  which  are  directly  traceable  to  a  lack  of 
spiritual  exercise.  They  are  hiring  the  minister  and 
the  city  missionary  to  exercise  in  their  behalf;  but 
such  exercise  does  not  aid  the  spiritual  digestion  of 
the  laity.  Spiritual  exercise  can  no  more  be  taken 
vicariously  than  physical.  And  if  every  man  of  the 
multitude  could  be  reached  and  rescued  by  a  hired 
representative,  the  layman  would  still  need  to  engage 
in  personal  Christian  work  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
spiritual  health. 


282  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Such  work  in  systematic  house-to-house  visitation  is 
of  great  educational  value  to  those  who  engage  in  it. 
It  enlarges  their  horizon  and  saves  their  lives  from 
littleness ;  it  carries  them  outside  themselves  and  culti- 
vates an  active  habit  of  beneficence ;  it  affords  definite 
objects  of  interest,  effort,  and  prayer ;  it  gives  a  practi- 
cal knowledge  of  human  nature.  If  the  visitation  is  to 
the  poor,  it  creates  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  great 
sociological  problems  of  the  times;  the  visitors  touch 
the  great  heart  of  humanity  and  come  into  fuller 
sympathy  with  it;  and  by  the  measure  of  love  and 
sacrifice  with  which  they  enrich  other  lives  they  are 
themselves  enriched.  One  pastor  said,  "If  you  should 
come  into  my  prayer-meeting,  you  could  pick  out  the 
sixty  church  visitors  there  by  the  shine  on  their  faces." 
This  giving  of  one's  self  is  like  mercy, 

"  .  .  .  .  twice  bless'd ; 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 

Not  only  does  the  church  need  such  personal  inter- 
course for  the  spiritual  health  and  training  of  her 
membership :  she  must  come  into  personal  contact  with 
the  life  of  the  community  if  she  is  to  accomplish  her 
social  mission.  Such  contact,  by  affording  a  definite 
knowledge  of  facts,  would  serve  to  overcome  the  in- 
difference which  is  now  so  serious  an  obstacle  to  reach- 
ing the  masses  with  Christian  influence. 

When  the  heart  is  right  (and  a  man  is  pot  a  Christian 
if  his  heart  is  not  right),  what  is  needed  to  secure  right 
action  is  to  inform  the  head.  It  has  become  proverbial 
that  one  half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the  other 
half  lives — not  the  other  half  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  globe,  but  in  our  own  midst — and  ignorance  is  of 
course  attended  by  indifference. 

Indifference  must  be  killed  with  facts — not  guesses, 
or  estimates,  or  opinions,  but  solid  facts,  clean-cut  and 
well-established.  In  almost  every  community  there  are 
facts  enough  just  under  the  surface  to  arouse  Christian 
activity,  if  only  they  were  known— relievable  suffer- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT.     283 

ing,  wrongs,  violations  of  law,  ignorance,  neglected 
children  who  are  growing  a  crop  of  paupers  and 
criminals.  In  a  New  England  city  of  75,000  inhabi- 
tants, in  two  months'  time,  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
boys  and  girls  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  twenty 
were  arrested.  The  annual  report  of  the  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction  in  New  York  shows  that 
during  the  year  ending  in  July,  1890,  there  were  800,000 
children  of  school  age  in  the  state  who  did  not  attend 
school  at  any  time  during  the  year,  and  that  the  aver- 
age daily  attendance  was  over  1,000,000  less  than  the 
total  number  of  children  of  school  age.  The  canvass 
of  a  county  in  Ohio  revealed  the  fact  that  one  third 
of  the  families  were  without  the  Bible,  and  the  canvass 
of  a  ward  in  Brooklyn  showed  a  like  destitution  on  the 
part  of  one  half  of  the  families  in  the  ward.  Such 
facts  being  interpreted  mean  that  Christians  have  been 
neglecting  their  duty,  and  that  something  ought  to  be 
done  by  somebody. 

Personal  contact  with  the  life  of  the  community 
brings  such  facts  to  light,  and  more  especially  yields 
specific  cases  which  are  vastly  more  effective  in  arous- 
ing interest  than  general  statements.  We  know  that 
in  a  great  city  there  must  be  many  who  suffer  want, 
but  that  knowledge  does  not  deeply  move  us.  We 
learn  that  in  a  certain  hovel  there  is  a  deserted  child, 
sick  and  starving,  and  we  can  neither  eat  nor  sleep 
until  we  have  carried  succor.  "It  was  only  the  other 
day  that  a  little  boy  who  had  been  carrying  beer  all 
day  to  an  East  Side  factory  was  found  in  the  cellar 
dead,  gnawed  by  rats.  He  had  crawled  down  from  the 
shop  drunk,  and  had  perished  there  during  the  night."  ' 
We  know  that  many  children  are  employed  every  day 
in  New  York  to  carry  beer  from  saloons,  and  with 
many  oad  results.  And  most  men  can  hear  this  gen- 
eral statement  with  indifference;  but  this  specific 
instance  kindles  our  indignation  to  a  white  heat.  It 

i  Jacob  Riiein  The  Christian  Union,  May  16, 1889. 


284  THE  NEW  ERA. 

is  one  thing  to  read  of  women  starving  to  death  at 
the  point  of  a  needle,  and  a  very  different  thing  to 
become  personally  interested  in  a  victim  of  this  wrong. 
A  wrong  in  print  may  make  you  indignant,  but  that 
wrong  embodied  in  flesh  and  blood  before  your  eyes 
stirs  you  up  to  do  something  about  it. 

I  believe  it  was  Mrs.  Browning  who  said,  "Most 
people  are  kind,  if  they  only  think  of  it."  But  the 
comfortable  classes  are  generally  too  self-satisfied  to 
think  very  much  of  the  struggles  and  sufferings  of  the 
poor.  They  make  bargains  at  the  store  which,  if  they 
only  stopped  to  think,  would  tell  them  of  starving 
needlewomen ;  they  pay  wages  which  must  needs  mean 
underfed  and  ill-housed  families,  pinched  and  hopeless 
lives,  but  they  do  not  stop  to  think.  If  they  were  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  the  lives  and  homes  of  the 
poor  they  could  hardly  help  stopping  to  think.  Such 
acquaintance  would  enable  the  well-to-do  to  put  them- 
selves, in  some  measure,  in  the  place  of  the  ill-to-do, 
which  would  make  sympathy  possible.  "Half  of  the 
cruelty  in  the  world,"  says  Mr.  John  Fiske,  "is  the 
direct  result  of  stupid  incapacity  to  put  one's  self  in 
the  other  man's  place."  ' 

Many  Christian  people  are  indifferent  to  the  physical 
and  moral  destitution  which  exists  around  them  because 
they  are  ignorant  of  it,  or  know  of  it  only  in  a  vague 
and  general  way.  Personal  contact  with  it  will  arouse 
their  interest  and  activity,  if  anything  can.  Several 
pastors  in  one  of  the  wards  of  New  York  met  to  talk 
over  the  organization  of  house-to-house  visitation. 
They  decided  before  sending  out  their  visitors  that  they 
would  themselves  thoroughly  investigate  a  portion  of 
the  ward.  Each  took  a  square  or  more,  and  agreed  to 
call  on  every  family.  When  they  met  again  they  were 
full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  work.  One,  who  I  think  had 
been  with  his  church' nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was 
quite  overcome  with  emotion  that  he  had  lived  so  many 

Destiny  of  Man,  p.  99. 


.      THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT.     285 

years  in  the  midst  of  such  moral  and  spiritual  destitu- 
tion without  knowing  it,  and  declared  that  the  hours 
he  had  given  to  that  investigation  were  the  most  profit- 
able in  his  ministry,  both  to  himself  and  to  others. 
Another  who  had  had  a  pastorate  of  twenty  years  in 
that  ward  bore  similar  testimony.  Bring  clergy  and 
laity  into  actual  contact  with  the  community,  and  it 
will  soon  be  found  that  light  is  accompanied  with  heat. 

Again,  the  church  needs  this  personal  contact  with 
the  community  that  she  may  intelligently  discharge  her 
duty  to  it.  If  she  is  to  purify  its  entire  life,  she  must 
know  its  entire  life.  The  first  step  toward  a  better  con- 
dition of  things  is  exact  knowledge  of  the  existing  con- 
dition of  things.  There  should  be  made  in  every  city 
some  such  analysis  of  the  population  as  has  been  made 
of  900,000  people  in  East  London  by  Mr.  Charles  Booth,1 
which  shows  the  number  of  loafers  and  criminals,  the 
number  of  the  "very  poor,"  the  "poor,"  and  so  on  up 
to  those  who  are  "  well  to-do."  Definite  information 
should  be  obtained  of  every  family  in  city  and  country 
that  the  church  would  help.  Even  in  its  pauperism 
and  crime  human  nature  follows  certain  laws,  which 
we  must  understand  if  we  are  to  solve  these  great 
problems.  God's  methods  are  scientific,  and  ours  must 
be  if  we  are  to  be  his  intelligent  helpers.  And  if  the 
scientific  knowledge  necessary  to  intelligent  Christian 
work  can  be  obtained  of  London,  it  can  be  obtained 
of  any  city  in  Christendom. 

Without  such  knowledge,  suffering  will  exist,  igno- 
rance and  vice  will  flourish,  wrongs  and  crimes  will  be 
perpetrated,  and  deaths  will  occur,  the  causes  of  which 
the  church  might  have  removed. 

A  knowledge  of  these  causes  and  conditions  can  be 
gained  only  by  investigation  and  study.  Pauperism 
thrusts  itself  on  our  attention,  but  many  of  the  most 
worthy  poor,  who  are  struggling  with  genteel  poverty 
—the  most  biting  kind— are  never  known  unless  hunted 

1  Labor  and  Life  of  the  People.    (Two  volumes.) 


286  THE  MEW  ERA. 

up.  They  do  not  parade  their  poverty,  but  rather  make 
the  most  ingenious  and  pathetic  attempts  to  conceal  it. 
Many  of  them  would  rather  starve  or  freeze  or  commit 
suicide  than  beg.  Our  public  charities  do  not  reach 
them.  They  have  too  much  self-respect  to  accept  help 
from  a  stranger.  Only  one  who  has  made  himself  a 
friend  can  aid  them;  he  can  enter  into  their  life  and 
find  ways  to  assist  without  sacrificing  their  self-respect. 

Many  of  this  class  are  driven  to  crime  ,or  suicide. 
Miss  Alice  S.  Woodbridge,  Secretary  of  the  Working 
Women's  Society  of  New  York,  writes  ' :  "  The-  story  of 
Mrs.  Henderson,  who  threw  herself  from  the  attic 
window  of  a  lodging-house"  some  time  ago,  is  the  story 
of  many  another.  There  have  been  many  such  in- 
stances in  the  last  two  weeks.  Mrs.  Henderson  could 
not  live  on  the  salaries  offered  her.  She  could  live  if 
she  accepted  the  '  propositions '  of  her  employers." 

Early  in  the  morning  of  July  3,  1890,  the  body  of  a 
comely  and  neatly -dressed  woman  clasping  a  baby  in 
her  arms  floated  into  the  docks  of  the  Rotterdam  Steam- 
ship Line,  Hoboken.  It  was  soon  made  known  that  Mr. 
Werdtland  and  wife  writh  their  child  had  jumped  into 
the  North  River,  driven  to  death  by  poverty. 

Starvation  in  this  land  of  luxury  and  in  this  nine- 
teenth century  of  our  Lord  is  not  uncommon.  A  young 
man  was  found  dead  on  the  sidewalk  in  New  York; 
Mrs.  John  King  was  found  dead  in  New  Haven.  In 
each  case  a  physician  certified  that  they  starved  to 
death.  A  year  or  two  ago  in  March  a  family  was  found 
in  Quebec  which  had  spent  the  winter  in  an  attic  with- 
out fuel,  with  hardly  a  bed,  and  no  furniture.  The 
father  was  maimed  and  sick.  Three  of  the  children 
had  starved  to  death,  and  a  fourth  would  probably  die. 
They  were  "poor  and  proud."  Another  family  was 
found  in  the  same  city  in  much  the  same  condition. 
Henry  George  says:  "In  the  richest  city  of  the  world 


The  Arena,  April,  1891,  p.  640. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     287 

the  mortuary  reports  contain  a  column  for  deaths  by 
sheer  starvation."  ' 

The  significance  of  these  facts  to  which  I  wish  to  call 
attention  is,  not  that  there  is  dire  want  in  the  world. 
That  is  nothing  new ;  there  is  far  less  wretchedness  now 
than  when  Christ  came.  Then,  the  "milk  of  human 
kindness"  had  well-nigh  curdled  into  misanthropy  in 
the  proud  Roman  breast.  "Humanity,"  said  Sydney 
Smith,  "is  a  modern  invention  "—modern  because 
Christian.  There  are  multitudes  of  humane  men  and 
women  now  who  would  gladly  relieve  want,  if  knowing 
of  it  and  convinced  of  its  reality.  My  point  is  that  in 
our  large  cities  there  may  be  men,  women,  and  little 
children  starving  to  death,  suffering  agonies  as  terrible 
as  if  they  had  been  lost  in  the  desert  of  Sahara ;  and  all 
this  within  call  of  scores  who  would  gladly  rescue  them 
if  their  want  were  only  known.  In  one  block,  sickness, 
starvation,  despair,  death ;  and  in  the  next,  wealth  and 
generous  Christian  hearts,  all  unconcerned  because  ig- 
norant. 

A  widow  with  four  children,  living  in  Boston,  was 
told  to  vacate  her  rooms  because  several  weeks  behind 
with  her  rent.  Notwithstanding  the  eldest  daughter 
was  sick  and  the  mother  very  sick,  an  eviction  was  or- 
dered in  midwinter,  and  every  piece  of  furniture  save 
the  bed  in  which  the  dying  woman  lay  was  carried  out. 
Not  even  the  stove  on  which  a  child  was  preparing 
some  broth  for  her  mother  was  allowed  to  remain. 
That  night  in  the  cold  and  desolate  room  the  mother 
died.  Boston  was  indignant  when  the  story  was  told, 
and  no  doubt  ten  thousand  kind  hearts  thought,  "I 
would  gladly  have  prevented  that  outrage  if  I  had  only 
known  of  the  destitution." 

A  similar  case  of  eviction  occurred  with  like  result  in 
New  York  not  long  after.  Such  things  are  possible,  not 
because  Christian  sympathy  is  lacking  in  these  cities, 
but  because  there  is  lack  of  information;  and  because 

>  Twilight  Club  Tracts,  p.  37. 


288  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  this  lack  the  sympathy  might  as  well  be  on  one  side 
of  the  globe  and  the  suffering  on  the  other. 

Once  cities  might  suffer  starvation  while  crops  rotted 
on  the  ground  forty  miles  away — this  for  lack  of  com- 
munication. Such  famines  are  no  longer  possible,  but 
a  family  now  starves  with  abundance  not  forty  miles 
away  but  within  forty  feet  maybe — and  this  for  lack 
of  communication. 

Spiritual  famine  is  common,  and  from  like  cause.  A 
pastor  in  Maine,  already  quoted,  said  that  of  seventy- 
eight  funerals  at  which  he  officiated  the  year  before, 
forty-one  were  in  non-church-going  families,  and 
"thirty-one  of  them  were  of  adults,  Avho  were  sick  and 
died  without  a  visit  from  any  religious  person,  a  prayer, 
or  a  word  of  hope."  This  pastor  would  gladly  have 
ministered  to  this  destitution,  but  he  did  not  know  of 
the  existence  of  these  people  until  called  to  bury  them. 

But  it  is  the  business  of  the  church  to  know.  She 
might  know,  and  therefore  ought  to  know,  so  that  igno- 
rance is  no  excuse.  "If  thou  forbear  to  deliver  them 
that  are  drawn  unto  death,  and  those  that  are  ready  to 
be  slain;  If  thou  sayest,  Behold,  we  knew  it  not;  doth 
not  he  that  pondereth  the  heart  consider  it  ?  and  he  that 
keepeth  thy  soul,  doth  he  not  know  it  ?  and  shall  not  he 
render  to  every  man  according  to  his  works  ? "  ' 

The  contact  of  the  church  with  the  community  should 
be  so  complete  and  the  work  of  visitation  so  systema- 
tized that  if  a  young  man  is  in  arrest,  a  young  woman 
in  disgrace,  a  family  in  want,  or  if  any  one  has  died 
from  hunger  or  drunkenness,  some  one  ought  to  know 
the  circumstances  and  feel  in  measure  responsible  for 
it.  If  any  one  has  moved  out  of  the  district  or  into  it, 
it  ought  to  be  some  one's  business  to  know  it.  The 
church  can  never  fulfil  her  mission  until  there  has  been 
established  what  General  Booth  calls  "a  nervous  sys- 
tem" for  the  community,  which  shall  bring  her  into 
communication  with  every  man,  woman,  and  child. 

>  Prov.  xxiv.  11, 12. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT-     289 

"The  charity  organization  societies  do  enough  to  show 
where  the  weak  spot  in  our  system  is,  but  from  the 
nature  of  their  organization  they  do  not  fill  the  gap 
which  they  disclose.  I  do  not  myself  believe  that  the 
gap  will  be  filled  till  the  Church  of  Christ  devotes  itself 
systematically  to  the  business,  and  when  it  does,  I 
think  it  will  prove  that  its  success  is  on  the  old  lines, 
of  personal  oversight  by  consecrated  men  and  women, 
carried  out  so  far  that  every  persoij  in  the  district  in 
hand  may  be  under  the  direct  personal  and  intelligent 
supervision  of  somebody." ' 

Thus  this  personal  contact  with  the  community  will 
show  the  church  where  and  what  her  work  is  and  en- 
able her  to  undertake  it  intelligently. 

2.  We  have  seen  that  such  contact  is  needed  by  the 
church;  it  is  no  less  needed  by  non-church  goers. 
Without  it  we  shall  not  solve  the  problem  of  evangeliz- 
ing the  masses. 

The  world  is  dying  of  selfishness.  "Perhaps  the 
worst  devil  a  man  can  be  possessed  withal,"  says 
George  MacDonald,  "is  himself.  In  mere  madness  the 
man  is  beside  himself;  but  in  this  case  he  is  inside  him- 
self. The  presiding,  indwelling,  inspiring  spirit  of  him 
is  himself,  and  that  is  the  hardest  to  cast  out."  Noth- 
ing but  love  can  exorcise  this  devil.  Hence  God  has 
revealed  his  love  to  men,  and  is  trying  to  love  them  out 
of  themselves.  Isaiah  says:2  "Thou  hast  loved  my  soul 
from  the  pit."  But  the  world  does  not  know  God  or 
believe  in  his  love,  nor  does  it  believe  in  the  love  which 
Christians  profess.  The  natural  and  only  adequate 
expression  of  love  is  sacrifice;  only  by  sacrifice  could 
the  divine  love  fully  utter  itself;  and  sacrifice  must 
ever  be  for  God  and  man  the  mother-tongue  of  love. 
But  self-sacrifice  is  precisely  what  the  world  does  not 
see  in  the  life  of  the  average  Christian/  It  may  be 


»  Edward  Everett  Hale,  D.D.,  Magazine  of  Christian  Literature,  Novem 
ber,  1890. 
8  xxxviii.  17,  Marginal  rendering. 


290  THE  NEW  ERA. 

there  in  some  real  measure,  but  the  world  is  not  aware 
of  it.  He  appears  as  well-groomed,  as  comfortable,  as 
self-absorbed,  as  self-centred,  as  the  upright  man  of 
the  world,  from  whom  he  is  hardly  distinguishable. 

Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  convince  a  selfish 
man  of  disinterestedness.  He  has  had  no  experience  of 
it;  he  has  had  little  or  no  observation  of  it.  The  Chris- 
tian professes  a  disinterested  love  for  his  fellow-men, 
but  profession  is  not  proof.  He  may  give  his  money 
for  churches  and  missions,  for  music-halls  and  public 
libraries,  but  the  selfish  man  finds  it  easy  to  suspect 
some  ulterior  motive.  A  money  gift  cannot  certify  to 
the  motives  which  prompted  it.  It  may  or  may  not  be 
a  sacrifice ;  but  when  a  man  gives  himself,  that  affords 
proof  of  disinterested  love,  if  anything  can. 

And  this  is  pre-eminently  true  in  these  times  of 
popular  discontent,  when  many  believe  that  the  money 
given  by  the  rich  and  well-to-do  really  belongs  to  the 
workingmen.  Says  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Even- 
ing Post :  "  The  poor,  and  ignorant,  and  barbarous,  and 
anarchical,  and  indifferent  of  this  city,  or  of  any  other, 
are  not  what  they  were  fifty  or  one  hundred  years  ago. 
They  cannot  be  any  longer  won,  or  persuaded,  or  raised, 
by  simple  preaching,  or  even  by  almsgiving.  They 
have  become  too  knowing  for  that.  They  are  envious 
and  suspicious  of  the  rich  and  well-to-do,  and  they  are 
tired  of  the  old  gospel  of  contentment  when  delivered 
by  people  who  have  all  the  comforts  this  world  can 
give.  Nothing  touches  them  nowadays  but  the  spec- 
tacle of  self-sacrifice."1  And  this  is  true  because  noth- 
ing else  demonstrates  love. 

Self -giving  is  not  incidental  but  essential  to  Chris- 
tianity. Christ's  coming  was  an  exhibition  of  God's 
self -giving;  Christ's  life  was  a  perpetual  self -giving; 
and  he  made  daily  self-giving  the  condition  of  dis- 


1  The  New  York  Evening  Post,  Dec.  4,  1888.  When  this  truth  is  so 
clearly  seen  by  the  secular  press  it  is  high  time  for  the  churches  to  recog- 
nize it. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL   CONTACT.     291 

cipleship.  But  the  average  Christian  thinks  to  dis- 
charge his  duty  to  a  lost  world  by  money-giving 
instead  of  seZ/-giving.  The  multitude  very  naturally 
take  the  average  Christian  as  a  fair  representative  of 
the  church,  and  seeing  in  him  no  evidence  of  love,  they 
disbelieve  in  the  church  and  its  professions,  and  the 
church  loses  its  influence  over  them. 

Governor  William  B.  Washburn  believed  in  personal 
Christian  work.  It  was  his  habit  to  go  into  the  homes 
of  the  poor  people  in  his  village  for  at  least  one  or  two 
hours  every  week,  and  talk  and  pray  with  them  and 
invite  them  to  church.  And  the  time,  sympathy,  and 
thought  given  by  this  busy  man  to  the  poor  were  worth 
far  more  to  them  than  any  money  he  might  have  given, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  much  better  proof  of  his  love. 
It  is  not  strange  that  Governor  Washburn  had  a  large 
and  successful  Bible-class. 

What  if  the  best  men  and  women  in  the  churches, 
chosen  for  their  tact  no  less  than  their  piety,  should 
visit  the  homes  of  the  masses,  not  once  or  twice  as 
census-takers,  but  going  repeatedly,  as  friends,  to  estab- 
lish intimate  and  helpful  relations,  studying  spiritual 
and  temporal  needs  and  seeking  to  serve  in  every  possi- 
ble Avay  ?  How  long  would  it  be  before  the  masses 
would  regain  their  faith  in  the  church,  and  in.  the  sincer- 
ity of  its  members  ?  "The  only  conclusive  evidence  of 
a  man's  sincerity,"  says  Mr.  Lowell,  "is  that  he  gives 
himself  for  a  principle.  Words,  money,  all  things  else, 
are  comparatively  easy  to  give  away ;  but  when  a  man 
makes  a  gift  of  his  daily  life  and  practice,  it  is  plain 
that  the  truth,  whatever  it  may  be,  has  taken  posses- 
sion of  him." 

And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  church  has  a 
mission  to  the  rich  as  well  as  to  the  poor.  Christ  did 
not  say,  Go  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  except 
the  rich.  True,  it  is  the  well-to-do  who  constitute  most 
of  the  church-going  class,  but  in  the  aggregate  there 
are  many  rich  who  are  as  Christless  as  the  benighted 
heathen.  They  are  the  most  utterly  neglected  class  in 


292  THE  NEW  ERA. 

• 

the  community,  as  unapproached  as  if  living  in  the 
heart  of  the  Dark  Continent.  There  are  no  societies 
organized  for  their  evangelization,  the  city  missionary 
society  cannot  reach  them.  Their  spiritual  destitution 
does  not  appeal  to  us  as  do  the  bodily  want  and  squalor 
of  the  poor,  but  a  lean  and  tattered  soul  is  equally 
pitiable  in  God's  sight,  whether  it  lives  at  the  "East 
End"  or  the  "West  End."  The  poor  rich  are  by  far 
the  most  difficult  class  to  help,  but  they  can  be  reached 
with  Gospel  influence  by  skilful  personal  work. 

Again,  personal  self-giving  is  necessary  in  order  to 
dissipate  skepticism.  For  a  supernatural  religion  un- 
belief demands  supernatural  evidence.  By  all  means 
let  it  be  given.  Christ  met  this  demand  with  miracles, 
and  speaking  of  them  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Greater 
works  than  these  shall  ye  do."  Surely  there  could  be 
no  greater  physical  miracle  than  raising  the  dead  to  life. 
Christ's  prophecy,  then,  could  be  fulfilled  only  in  the 
doing  of  spiritual  miracles — in  the  raising  of  souls, 
dead  in  sin,  to  spiritual  life.  New  lives,  therefore,  in- 
spired with  higher  than  natural  motives  and  filled  with 
more  than  natural  service,  in  short,  lives  filled  with  the 
spirit  and  self-sacrificing  love  of  Christ  and  manifesting 
a  likeness  to  him  which  is  truly  supernatural,  are  the 
miracles  with  which  Christ  expected  in  all  ages  to  con- 
vince the  world  that  his  religion  was  from  God.  Such 
lives  are  all-conquering.  Unbelief  cannot  live  under 
their  influence.  The  arguments  of  infidelity  can  no 
more  cope  with  them  than  words  can  stay  the  shining 
of  the  sun. 

The  most  mischievous  infidelity  in  the  world  is  not  of 
the  philosophical  sort,  which  men  read  out  of  books, 
but  of  the  practical  sort,  which  they  read  out  of  pro- 
fessedly Christian  lives.  When  the  average  church 
member,  by  unmistakably  giving  himself  to  the  service 
of  his  fellow-men,  proves  his  love  to  them,  he  will  show 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  able  to  cast  out  the  devil  of  self, 
and  thus  furnish  the  supernatural  evidence  which  the 
skeptic  demands. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     293 

Again,  personal  self -giving  is  necessary  in  order  to 
solve  the  problem  of  pauperism. 

Indiscriminate  charity  (and  up  to  date  most  of  the 
world's  charity  has  been  indiscriminate)  has  no  doubt 
done  vastly  more  harm  than  good.  It  has  perpetuated 
the  evils  it  has  sought  to  relieve,  and  created  others. 

When  men  discover  that  begging  is  at  the  same  time 
easier  and  more  profitable  than  work,  they  beg;  when 
they  find  that  rags  and  filth  pay  larger  dividends  than 
cleanliness  and  decency,  they  invest  in  rags  and  filth; 
when  they  learn  that  mutilated  and  deformed  children 
wring  more  money  from  the  charitable  than  able-bodied 
beggars  can,  parents  maim  and  torture  their  offspring 
into  objects  of  horror.  So-called  charity  puts  a  pre- 
mium on  loathsome  filth  and  hideous  deformity,  and 
by  thus  helping  to  create  them  becomes  in  measure 
responsible  for  them.  Unintelligent,  emotional  almsgiv- 
ing is  more  cruel  than  a  pestilence.  It  means  well,  but, 
as  Octavia  Hill  says,  "  Let  us  never  weakly  plead  that 
what  we  do  is  benevolent ;  we  must  ascertain  that  it  is 
really  beneficent  too."  Mr.  Carnegie  is  of  the  opinion 
that  out  of  every  $1000  given  in  charity,  $950  do  harm. 
This  would  be  extravagant  as  applied  to  all  money  given 
away,  but  hardly  too  strong  as  applied  to  that  given  in 
emotional  charity ;  that  is  almost  invariably  mischiev- 
ous. But  a  small  proportion  of  those  who  apply  for 
alms  need  aid,  and  those  who  do  are  probably  injured 
by  giverless  gifts. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  of  New  York,  after 
investigating  many  thousands  of  cases  of  pauperism, 
makes  this  generalization,  that  of  all  applications  for  aid 
less  than  one  in  sixteen  requires  continuous  help,  and 
less  than  one  in  four  needs  even  temporary  aid.1  Many 
a  pauper  " dispenses  with  the  necessaries  of  life"  only 
because  he  is  in  full  possession  of  its  luxuries.  Unin- 
telligent, emotional  charity  supports  hordes  of  hypo- 
crites, and  when  it  blunders  into  aiding  a  worthy  man, 

1  Fifth  Annual  Report,  p.  37. 


294  THE  NEW  ERA. 

helps  to  pauperize  and  degrade  him.  It  never  finds  the 
many  who  suffer  and  utter  no  cry. 

Too  often  the  giving  of  money  is  only  a  lazy  and 
selfish  way  of  satisfying  conscience.  What  the  pauper 
needs  rather  than  money  is  self-respect,  self-restraint, 
industry,  economy,  judgment,  enlightenment,  hope, 
courage,  character.  But  these  cannot  be  passed  out 
of  the  pocket  leaving  the  giver  free  to  go  on  his  way 
unhindered,  while  he  rejoices  in  an  approving  con- 
science. To  give  what  the  pauper  really  needs  costs 
time  and  thought  and  sympathy  and  effort.  His  case 
must  be  studied  and  treated  with  skill  and  persever- 
ance. The  Psalmist  says:  "Blessed  is  he  that  con- 
sidereth  the  poor." '  How  few  almsgivers  are  entitled 
to  this  blessing?  It  takes  time  to  "consider,"  and  most 
men  would  rather  give  money. 

And  even  where  we  do  consider  conscientiously  it  is 
very  difficult  to  give  money  or  material  help  without 
doing  mischief.  Eev.  S.  A.  Barnett,  who  as  founder  of 
Toynbee  Hall  has  had  wide  experience  and  observation, 
says  that  as  a  rule  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
people  what  they  want  without  doing  injury.  Some 
attempts  to  benefit  the  families  of  workingmen  by 
giving  them  things  have  been  found  to  be  in  effect 
contributions  to  the  pockets  of  their  employers,  just 
as  gifts  to  the  families  of  drunkards  are  often  found 
to  go  for  drink,  and  so  make  the  wretched  family  only 
more  wretched. 

But  the  problem  of  pauperism  can  be  solved.  It  has 
been  solved.  Says  Prof.  R.  T.  Ely,2  "Wherever  there 
has  been  any  earnest  and  intelligent  attempt  to  remedy 
the  evil,  the  success  has  been  equal  to  all  the  most 
sanguine  could  anticipate."  The  experiment  which  was 
inaugurated  in  1853  in  Elberfeld,  and  which  has  since 
extended  to  many  other  cities  of  Germany,  the  famous 
work  of  Dr.  Chalmers  and  that  of  the  noble  company  of 
women  in  New  York  City,  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  all  show  that  in  a  few  years  the  pauper  can  be 

1  Ps.  xli.  1.  a  North  American  Review,  April,  1891. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  PERSONAL  CONTACT.     295 

helped  up  above  the  need  of  help;  and  in  all  of  these 
instances  patient  and  wise  personal  effort  was  the 
saving  power.  "Not  alms,  but  a  friend;"  not  silver 
and  gold,  but  moral  healing.  Of  course  material  aid 
must  sometimes  be  given,  but  it  is  not  remedial.  The 
cure  of  pauperism  is  more  expensive  than  can  be 
wrought  by  the  check-book.  Its  remedy  is  seZ/-giving. 
"  Give  for  alms  those  things  which  are  within."  ' 

It  might  be  shown,  further,  that  personal  contact 
and  self-giving  are  necessary,  if  we  would  solve  the 
problem  of  vice  and  crime,  but  we  must  bring  this 
discussion  to  a  close. 

If,  as  we  have  seen,  personal  effort  is  necessary  in 
order  to  win  the  masses  and  elevate  the  degraded,  there 
must  be  an  immense  increase  of  lay  activity,  for  it 
would  be  simply  a  physical  impossibility  for  the  clergy 
and  other  salaried  representatives  of  the  church  to 
reach  so  vast  a  multitude.  If  the  church  is  to  leaven 
the  whole  community,  this  universal  touch  must  come 
through  the  laity.  If  she  is  to  accomplish  the  reforms 
necessary  to  purifying  and  Christianizing  all  human 
institutions,  activities,  and  relations,  she  must  remem- 
ber that  back  of  institutions  and  laws,  back  of  parties 
and  policies,  back  of  public  morals  and  public  opinion, 
is  individual  character,  and  character  must  be  wrought 
upon  by  character. 

Laymen  are  absorbed  by  business,  but  when  the 
Premier  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  finds  time  to  talk 
and  pray  with  a  wayward  boy,  to  make  a  weekly  visit 
to  a  drunkard  who  is  trying  to  reform,  and  to  read  the 
Bible  to  an  old  street-sweeper  in  an  attic,  surely  men  on 
whom  press  only  their  little  private  businesses  ought  to 
be  able  to  find  some  time  for  personal  Christian  work. 

Most  of  our  forces  never  come  to  close  quarters  with 
"our  friends  the  enemy."  The  Roman  shortened  his 
sword  and  lengthened  the  bounds  of  his  empire.  We 
must  learn  to  handle  the  short  sword,  if  we  are  to  con- 
quer the  world  for  Christ. 

1  Luke  xi.  41,  Revised  Version. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION. 

THE  most  powerful  tendency  of  the  times  is  centrip- 
etal. It  is  profoundly  influencing  production  and  dis- 
tribution— industries  of  all  sorts — and  the  movement  of 
populations.  So  general  a  tendency  toward  combina- 
tion, organization,  centralization,  indicates,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  nothing  less  than  a  new  evolution  of  civil- 
ization, the  beginning  of  a  higher  organization  of 
society,  made  possible  by  steam  and  electricity  and  the 
higher  development  of  the  individual. 

The  development  of  great  railway  systems  affords  an 
excellent  illustration  of  this  tendency  to  combine.  The 
early  railway  charters  were  for  short  lines.  That  part 
of  the  New  York  Central  road  between  Albany  and 
Buffalo  was  originally  owned  and  operated  by  sixteen 
independent  companies.  In  France  forty-eight  com- 
panies have  been  absorbed  by  six.  In  England  five 
thousand  miles  were  owned  in  1847  by  several  hundred 
different  companies.  Twenty-five  years  later  thirteen 
thousand  miles  were  nearly  all  owned  by  twelve  com- 
panies.1 Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams  says  that  the  next 
move  in  this  country  will  be  in  the  direction  of  railway 
systems  of  twenty  thousand  miles,  each  under  one 
management.  Business,  open-eyed,  has  seen  and  seized 
the  immense  advantage  which  lies  in  consolidation, 
organization ;  but  the  Protestant-  churches  do  not  yet 
appreciate  this  advantage. 


1  Natural  Law  in  the  Business  World,  p.  196. 

296 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.  297 

That  they  are  not  indifferent,  however,  to  this  great- 
est tendency  of  the  times  appears  from  the  very  general 
discussion  of  organic  union.  The  several  denomina- 
tions certainly  sustain  much  more  friendly  relations 
with  each  other  than  they  once  did.  But  though  they 
do  not  now  as  formerly  ' '  hate  each  other  for  the  love 
of  God,"  as  Mr.  Stead  says,  they  still  stand  apart  and 
suffer  all  the  weakness  of  division. 

In  rare  instances  churches  co-operate,  but  so  far  as 
any  comprehensive  survey  of  the  field  is  concerned, 
and  the  wise  adjustment  of  supply  to  need,  the  denom- 
inations generally,  like  the  Jews  and  Samaritans,  have 
no  dealings  one  with  another.  In  one  city  an  Episcopal 
rector  told  me  that  in  organizing  house-to-house  visita- 
tion he  had  met  for  the  first  time  a  Baptist  pastor, 
whose  church  was  in  the  same  block  with  his  own, 
where  they  had  both  been  laboring  for  six  years.  In 
another  city,  one  of  the  smaller  of  our  large  cities,  a 
Presbyterian  pastor  and  an  Episcopal  rector,  each 
prominent  in  his  denomination,  each  of  large  mind  and 
fraternal  spirit,  and  each  of  whom  had  been  settled 
in  the  city  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  were 
introduced  to  each  other  at  a  parlor  conference  which 
had  met  to  consider  co-operative  work.  Imagine  two 
military  captains  or  colonels,  set  for  the  defence  of  the 
same  city,  fighting  a  common  enemy  for  twenty-five 
years  before  holding  a  council  of  war  or  even  having 
met ! 

The  military  maxim,  Divide  the  enemy  and  conquer, 
has  in  it  the  wisdom  of  experience.  The  Protestant 
churches  are  divided.  Notwithstanding  the  protestations 
of  friendship  on  the  part  of  denominations  and  the  actual 
love  and  fellowship  of  many  individual  members  of 
different  communions ;  notwithstanding  we  have  much 
more  in  common  than  in  difference;  notwithstanding 
there  is  to  a  certain  extent  an  underlying  spiritual 
unity — yet  so  long  as  different  churches  are  unable  or 
indisposed  to  co-operate  for  the  accomplishment  of 
common  objects,  so  long  as  one  church  is  willing  to 


298  THE  NEW  ERA 

build  itself  at  the  expense  of  others,  so  long  surely  as 
churches  are  in  competition  one  with  another,  they  arc 
divided;  and  while  they  thus  remain  cannot  hope  to 
conquer  the  world  for  Christ. 

Consider  some  of  the  more  obvious  and  important 
reasons  for  co-operation. 

1.  It  is  necessary  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  evils 
of  competition. 

In  many  small  towns,  east  and  west,  there  are  too 
many  churches.  If  in  a  community  there  are  three 
churches  where  there  is  room  for  only  one,  there  must 
of  course  be  a  struggle  for  existence.  If  one  becomes 
strong,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  the  other  two ;  and  more 
likely  all  three  are  enfeebled.  As  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  human  nature  in  people,  this  struggle  to  live 
under  such  conditions  naturally  leads  to  competition, 
jealousies,  and  strifes.  Thus  Christ  and  his  religion  are 
dishonored  before  the  world,  and  the  character  and 
influence  of  the  churches  are  marred. 

This  competitive  struggle  to  live  has  many  bad 
effects.  Sometimes  it  seriously  modifies  the  tone  of  the 
preaching,  rendering  it  less  bold,  less  faithful  to  the 
conscience,  less  loyal  to  the  truth,  for  fear  that  some 
rich  sinner  may  be  offended. 

As  another  result,  some  churches  are  led  to  cater  to 
the  rich.  When  there  come  into  our  assemblies  a  man 
with  a  gold  ring,  in  goodly  apparel,  and  also  a  poor 
man  in  vile  raiment,  does  not  the  usher  sometimes  say 
to  him  that  weareth  the  gay  clothing,  "  Sit  thou  here  in 
a  good  place;"  and  to  the  poor  man,  "  Stand  thou  there, 
or  sit  here  under  my  footstool "  ?  And  is  not  the  family 
of  the  man  in  gay  clothing  likely  to  receive  more  social 
recognition  than  that  of  the  man  in  vile  raiment  ? 

When  the  support  of  a  church  becomes  a  great  burden 
to  its  members,  the  financial  question  demands  undue 
attention.  With  a  great  multitude  of  churches  the  con- 
dition of  the  treasury  is  the  supreme  concern.  Their 
energies  are  absorbed  by  church  fairs,  suppers,  and  what 
not,  while  they  lose  sight  of  the  real  object  of  the  church. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.          299 

The  great  question  comes  to  be,  not  How  to  save  men  ? 
but  How  to  save  the  church  ?  Instead  of  making  the 
church  a  means  to  the  salvation  of  the  community  as  an 
end,  the  community  is  looked  on  as  a  means  to  the  sav- 
ing of  the  church  as  an  end,  and  men  are  sought  for  the 
purpose  of  building  up  the  church.  Of  course  such  a 
church  has  little  or  no  influence  over  non -church -goers. 
Men  who  care  nothing  for  the  church  cannot  be  induced 
to  attend  for  the  sake  of  the  church.  When  it  seeks 
them  they  think  it  is  for  some  ulterior  purpose — believe 
that  it  seeks  not  them,  but  theirs.  An  acquaintance  of 
mine,  a  clergyman,  was  making  an  effort,  which  had 
been  already  several  times  repeated,  to  induce  a  work- 
ingman  to  attend  church.  "Why  should  you,"  said  the 
man,  "be  troubling  yourself  about  me  and  my  family 
anyway  ?  I  couldn't  give  more  than  four  or  five  dollars 
a  year,  and  that  isn't  worth  your  while." 

The  impression  that  the  church  is  after  money  is  one 
of  the  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  reaching  the  masses. 
And  that  impression  is  likely  to  remain  as  long  as  com- 
petition between  the  churches  continues. 

This  competitive  struggle  to  live  of  course  intensifies 
sectarianism.  Many  become  devoted  to  the  church,  not 
because  it  is  Christ's  church,  but  because  it  is  their 
church.  They  may  hate  some  other  church  of  Christ 
quite  as  heartily  as  they  love  their  own.  They  love  it 
not  so  much  as  a  church,  as  an  object  for  which  they 
have  made  sacrifices.  They  lay  the  flattering  unction 
to  their  soul  that  they  are  uncommonly  pious,  when  as 
a  matter  of  fact  they  are  simply  bigoted.  Thus  the 
struggle  to  support  superfluous  churches,  instead  of 
enlarging  the  heart  as  all  noble  sacrifice  does,  only 
narrows  it  and  increases  sectarianism. 

This  spirit  of  competition  utterly  belies  Christianity. 
"  Every  church  for  itself  "  is  as  selfish  as  "  Every  man 
for  himself."  The  policy  and  labors  of  some  pastors 
and  churches  are  essentially  selfish,  and  whatever  is 
essentially  selfish  is  essentially  unchristian  and  cannot 
manifest  to  the  world  Christ  and  his  self-sacrificing 


300  THE  NEW  ERA. 

spirit.  Such  churches  utterly  misrepresent  their  Mas- 
ter. 

Another  evil  effect  of  this  competition  is  the  con- 
gestion of  churches  so  often  seen  in  our  large  cities, 
that  is,  the  multiplication  of  churches  in  those  wards 
of  the  city  which  need  them  least,  and  the  neglect 
of  the  most  needy.  A  denominational  city  missionary 
society,  which  of  course  never  takes  counsel  with 
a  "rival"  society,  looks  over  the  whole  field  to 
select  the  place  in  which  to  plant  a  new  church.  The 
secretary  says  to  himself:  "If  we  go  down-town  we 
shall  find  prices  very  high,  and  no  help  on  the  ground 
to  buy  or  rent.  The  people  are  needy  enough;  hut  if  we 
go  to  work  in  the  slums,  as  soon  as  any  one  is  converted 
and  made  respectable  he  will  move  away,  so  that  the 
mission  will  never  become  self-sustaining.  But  up- 
town, where  the  well-to-do  and  Christian  people  are 
building,  there  is  room  for  a  church.  The  people  will 
contribute  largely  toward  building  it,  and  in  two  or 
three  years  it  will  not  only  be  self-sustaining,  but 
will  begin  to  return  money  to  our  treasury."  And,  of 
course,  he  goes  up  town  with  his  new  church.  The 
representative  of  another  denomination  takes,  note  of 
the  fact  and  says:  "  There  are  some  of  our  people  living 
near  that  new  church,  and  they  will  be  going  into  it 
and  we  shall  lose  them  to  our  denomination  if  we 
don't  build  in  that  neighborhood."  So  another  church 
is  built  on  the  opposite  corner,  not  because  there  isn't 
any  church  in  that  vicinity,  but  precisely  because  there 
is.  Thus  the  churches  are  planted  not  where  they  will 
best  serve  the  interests  of  the  city,  but  where  the  city 
will  best  serve  the  interests  of  the  churches. 

Business  men  have  learned  that  the  remedy  for  the 
evils  of  competition  is  combination.  Surely  the  evils 
of  sectarian  competition  emphasize  the  necessity  of 
substituting  co-operation. 

2.  Another  reason  for  co-operation  is  that  it  is  neces- 
sary to  the  best  economy  of  existing  resources. 

The  tendency  toward  organization  which  is  so  general 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.          301 

finds  expression  among  Protestant  denominations  not 
in  comprehensive  co-operation  as  it  should,  but  in  an 
ever-increasing  multiplicity  of  boards,  agencies,  socie- 
ties, and  the  like,  many  of  which  overlap  and  inter- 
fere, while  a  multitude  of  interests  are  neglected.  Thus 
the  power  and  effectiveness  which  would  belong  to  a 
comprehensive  organization  covering  the  whole  field 
are  lost  in  a  confusion  of  efforts  which  are  sadly  ex- 
pensive in  time,  strength,  opportunity,  money  and 
men. 

The  combination  of  railway  properties  effects  a  vast 
economy  over  the  independent  management  of  many 
short  lines. '  The  same  is  true  in  all  sorts  of  business ; 
why  should  the  work  of  the  churches  be  an  exception  ? 

The  various  Christian  denominations  have  a  common 
aim,  viz.,  to  bring  all  men  into  obedience  to  their  com- 
mon Lord.  But  instead  of  conference  and  co-operation 
so  as  to  make  the  wisest  expenditure  of  resources,  each 
conducts  its  work  with  little  or  no  reference  to  the 
others;  very  much  as  if  it  were  the  only  body  of  Chris- 
tians in  the  land.  How  foolish,  not  to  say  criminal, 
this  is ! 

Here  are  some  65,000,000  people  in  the  United  States 
living  in  nearly  29,000  townships.  These  townships 
rarely  contain  less  than  twenty-five  square  miles,  and 
many  contain  several  hundred.  Evidently  one  min- 
ister in  one  township  would  have  a  large  parish,  how- 
ever sparse  the  population  might  -be;  and  with  such  a 
disposition  of  ministerial  forces  the  clergyman  in  each 
of  our  443  cities  would  have  on  the  average  over  40,000 
•ouls  under  his  care. 

If  now  the  largest  of  the  Protestant  denominations 
were  called  on  to  supply  the  religious  needs  of  the 
whole  country  from  its  own  resources,  it  could  not 
furnish  one  half  of  the  organized  townships  in  the 
United  States  with  a  minister.  And  the  smaller  of  the 


'  Under  this  process,  in  one  instance,  the  cost  of  transportation  had  fallen 
in  1885  to  one  fifth  of  what  it  was  twenty  years  before. 


302  THE  NEW  ERA. 

half-dozen  most  influential  denominations,  on  which  we 
rely  chiefly  for  the  evangelization  of  the  nation,  could 
not  furnish  one  minister  for  every  six  townships.  The 
largest  Protestant  denomination  has  only  one  sixth  of 
our  Protestant  clergy,  and  the  smaller  of  these  leading 
bodies  has  only  one  twenty-first  part  of  them,  while  the 
church  membership  of  the  latter  is  only  one  twenty- 
sixth  part  of  the  whole.  Is  it  not  absurd  for  any  one  of 
these  bodies  to  assume  that  it  is  the  Christian  force  of 
the  country,  and  that  upon  it  rests  the  chief  responsi- 
bility for  its  evangelization  ?  And  yet  if  this  responsi- 
bility were  wholly  laid  on  any  one  of  the  Protestant 
denominations,  its  policy  could  hardly  differ  much 
from  its  present  policy.  Is  it  not  a  foolish  and  un- 
christian assumption  for  one  of  these  denominations  to 
adopt  a  policy  which  virtually  ignores  the  existence  of 
all  others  ?  Ought  not  the  policy  to  fit  the  facts  ?  Is  it 
possible  to  blink  the  facts  and  avoid  a  wicked  waste  ? 

This  wicked  waste  of  men  and  means  is  precisely 
what  we  see  in  many  thousands  of  communities.  A 
letter  recently  received  from  a  town  in  Massachusetts 
says:  "Our  total  population  is  probably  not  over  500, 
yet  we  have  near  together  a  Congregational,  a  Baptist, 
and  a  Methodist  church.  The  average  congregation  in 
each  is  between  twenty -five  and  fifty."  Each  of  these 
churches  receives  outside  aid.  A  clergyman  in  the 
State  of  New  York  writes:  "  In  one  town  are  two  houses 
of  worship  where  the  aggregate  congregations  rarely 
exceed  seventy.  In  another  village  are  two  houses  of 
worship,  the  aggregate  congregations  in  which  rarely 
exceed  thirty."  In  another  community  of  six  or  seven 
hundred  are  four  churches.  ""All  these  cases,"  writes 
my  informant,  "are  within  a  radius  of  six  miles.  In 
an  examination  of  statistics,  covering  some  scores  of 
churches,  located  mostly  in  agricultural  districts  and 
in  small  villages,  I  found  the  average  population  to  the 
church  to  be  less  than  three  hundred.  In  a  village  of 
some  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  population  there 
are  three  church  edifices  having  a  seating  capacity  of 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.          303 

eight  hundred.''''  Horace  Mann  estimated  that  ordinarily 
only  about  seventy  per  cent  of  the  population  could 
attend  church  on  a  given  Sabbath,  and  as  this  attend- 
ance is  spread  over  two  or  more  services,  he  thought 
the  places  of  worship  did  not  need  to  accommodate 
more  than  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  the  population.  Yet 
in  the  case  before  us  there  is  a  church-seating  capacity 
for  the  entire  population  twice  over,  while  on  the  fron- 
tier there  are  communities  as  destitute  of  churches  as 
any  heathen  village  in  the  heart  of  benighted  Africa, 
and  we  have  large  city  populations  where  there  is  only 
one  church  to  ten,  twenty,  and  even  forty  thousand 
souls.  I  am  informed  of  a  village  in  Kansas  where 
there  are  ten  churches,  four  or  five  of  them  being  Pres- 
byterian of  varying  tint,  and  nine  of  these  ten  churches 
are  dependent  on  home -missionary  societies.  Is  this 
investing  God's  money  as  stewards  who  must  give  an 
account?  Were  these  appropriations  for  the  Kingdom 
or  for  the  denomination  ?  Would  any  one  of  these  nine 
home-missionary  societies  think  of  supporting  nine 
churches  of  their  own  order  in  one  village  ?  If  such  an 
investment  would  be  poor  economy  for  one  denomina- 
tion, it  is  poor  economy  for  the  Kingdom.  Surely  we 
need  to  introduce  business  principles  into  our  Chris- 
tianity about  as  much  as  we  need  to  introduce  Christian 
principles  into  our  business. 

The  instances  given  above  are  hardly  exceptional,  and 
might  be  indefinitely  multiplied.  Such  a  condition  of 
things  is  the  natural  result  of  a  policy  which  ignores 
what  other  denominations  are  doing.  Some  churches 
are  much  less  guilty  than  others,  though  probably  none 
is  in  a  position  to  cast  a  stone  at  a  convicted  offender. 
And  while  we  waste  our  resources  in  competition,  we 
sing, 

"  We  are  not  divided, 
All  one  body  we." 

Some  tell  us  that  we  have  Christian  union  now.  But 
if  this  is  union,  I  wonder  what  disunion  must  be.  Is 
not  the  body  of  Christ  dismembered  when  the  eye  says 


304  THE  NEW  ERA. 

to  the  hand,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee,"  and  when  the 
head  says  to  the  feet,  "  I  have  no  need  of  you  "  ?  When 
members  of  the  hody  of  Christ  act  independently  of 
each  other,  and  even  in  competition  with  each  other, 
they  certainly  do  not  fulfil  the  Master's  prayer  that 
they  might  be  one,  as  the  Father  and  the  Son  are  one. 

Economy  of  resources  demands  not  only  an  under- 
standing between  denominations  in  the  distribution  of 
their  forces  through  the  land,  but  also  local  co-opera- 
tion, that  there  may  be  the  wisest  application  of  effort 
in  the  community.  Without  consultation  and  co-opera- 
tion between  denominations  there  is,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  strong  tendency  to  plant  most  of  the  churches  in 
those  parts  of  the  city  where  they  are  least  needed. 
"  It  is  a  very  important  point  in  illumination,"  says  Dr. 
Parkhurst,1  "to  put  your  light  where  it  is  dark.  If 
corporations  did  not  understand  the  philosophy  of  light- 
ing cities  by  gas  better  than  some  of  us  seem  to  under- 
stand the  philosophy  of  lighting  cities  by  Gospel,  the 
nights  in  some  of  our  wards  would  be  as  black  as  the 
morals  are."  When  churches  are  located  with  as  much 
reference  to  each  other  as  are  lamp-posts,  the  moral 
darkness  of  the  slums  will  be  less  dense. 

What  is  now  everybody's  business  proves  to  be 
nobody's  business.  When  according  to  the  plan  of  co- 
operation suggested  in  the  following  chapter  each 
church  accepts  a  special  responsibility  for  a  particular 
part  of  the  town,  every  city  ward  and  every  country 
school-district  can  be  systematically  and  thoroughly 
reached.  Dr.  James  McCosh  says  that  by  the  co- 
operation of  the  ministers  and  churches  in  a  town 
where  he  was  once  a  pastor  "every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  a  parish  of  six  thousand  was  carefully  looked 
after,  and  there  were  not  a  dozen  people  who  did  not 
attend  the  house  of  God."  * 


1  Address  at  the  Boston  Conference  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  "  National 
Needs  and  Remedies,"  p.  317. 
*  Ex-President  McCosh  in  fh<)  Christian  Union,  Feb.  6,  1890. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  COOPERATION.          305 

3.  Again,  co-operation  is  necessary  to  develop  the 
latent  forces  of  the  church. 

Paul  chose  the  highest  organism  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge  to  represent  the  church.  He  called 
it  the  body  of  Christ.  In  the  human  organism  every 
member  serves  every  other,  and  each  increases  the 
effectiveness  of  all.  Your  eyes  make  your  one  pair 
of  hands  worth  more  than  a  dozen  pairs  without 
eyes.  The  thumb  makes  the  four  fingers  more  ser- 
viceable than  a  score  of  fingers  without  a  thumb.  A 
regiment  of  soldiers  represents  vastly  more  than  the 
fighting  power  of  one  man  multiplied  by  a  thousand. 
There  is  a  cumulative  power  in  organization  which  dis- 
credits the  multiplication-table.  Why  is  it  that  a 
company  of  soldiers  can  disperse  an  armed  mob  of  ten 
or  twenty  times  their  numbers  ?  It  is  not  because  the 
soldier  is  physically  stronger  or  braver  than  the  civil- 
ian, but  because  he  has  learned  to  co-operate.  That  is 
what  drill  means.  It  enables  every  soldier  to. make 
every  other  soldier  more  effective.  "  One  shall  chase  a 
thousand  and  two  put,"  not  two  thousand,  but  "few 
thousand  to  flight " — the  cumulative  effect  of  co  opera- 
tion. 

We  have  very  little  in  our  Christian  work  which  cor- 
responds to  the  fighting  power  of  a  regiment  of  soldiers, 
and  nothing  at  all  that  answers  to  the  movements  of 
a  vast  army  as  it  executes  comprehensive  plans.  What 
we  need  is,  not  companies  of  bushwhackers  nor  a  great 
Christian  mob,  but  a  mighty  Christian  army,  that  shall 
move  as  one  man  and  strike  as  one  arm. 

Military  science  has  laid  hold  of  the  mighty  power 
in  organization;  and  never  has  the  world  seen  such 
arrities  as  exist  to-day  in  Europe.  Politics  has  seized 
upon  the  same  principle;  and,  other  things  being  equal, 
the  party  that  is  best  organized  wins.  Manufacturers 
and  business  of  every  sort  are  massing  capital,  thus 
developing  a  power  which  crushes  competition.  Even 
sin  is  organizing.  And  we  see  gambling  and  lottery 
combinations  powerful  enough  to  shake  a  great  state, 


306  THE  NEW  ERA. 

while  the  liquor  business  has  become  the  ' '  liquor 
power ''  by  virtue  of  organization.  The  papers  give  an 
account  of  the  discovery  of  a  "burglars'  syndicate  or 
trust,"  which  according  to  the  story  was  organized  on 
the  theory  that  burglars,  safe-breakers,  pickpockets, 
sneaks,  and  the  like  could  operate  with  better  success 
and  greater  safety  if  they  joined  forces.  If  the 
churches  are  to  overcome  the  mighty  evils  which  are 
contending  for  the  mastery,  and  mould  the  civilization 
of  the  future,  they  must  develop  their  latent  forces  by 
organization.  If  bad  men  can  combine  for  bad  ends, 
surely  good  men  ought  to  be  able  to  combine  for  good 
ends. 

The  differences  between  the  various  denominations 
need  not  interfere  with  their  co-operation;  they  may 
even  serve  to  increase  its  efficiency.  Differences  do 
not  necessarily  imply  discord ;  without  difference  there 
can  be  no  harmony. 

These  is  such  a  thing  as  the  polarity  of  truth  as  well 
as  of  light,  which  is  its  accepted  emblem.  All  great 
truths  have  opposite  poles  or  sides,  and  we  are  so  frac- 
tional that  we  seize  on  a  portion  of  the  truth,  only  a 
segment  of  it,  and  forget  or  depreciate  its  complement. 
Hence  the  different  sects,  each  emphasizing  a  different 
truth  or  portion  of  truth,  need  each  other  to  round  out 
its  perfect  circle.  Different  organs  with  different  func- 
tions are  a  necessary  condition  of  all  high  organization. 
A  hundred  hands  do  not  make  an  organized  body. 
There  must  be  many  members  in  one  body  having  dif- 
ferent offices.  There  is  a  mighty  power  in  the  various 
Protestant  churches  as  yet  undeveloped,  because  these 
various  members  of  the  body  of  Christ  have  failed  to 
enter  into  true  and  helpful  relations  with  each  olmer. 
It  is  not  enough  that,  the  separate  members  of  that 
body  be  active,  each  one:  "the  whole  body  "must 
be  "  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by  that  which 
every  joint  supplieth." 

True,  some  of  our  differences  are  not  complemental, 
but  contradictory;  they  are,  however,  comparatively 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.          307 

insignificant.  Missionaries  in  heathen  lands  find  that 
such  differences  become  puerile  in  the  presence  of  those 
who  worship  the  devil ;  and  surely  they  are  too  insig- 
nificant to  prevent  our  co-operation  in  the  presence  of 
those  who  worship  the  world  and  the  flesh.  Christian 
civilization  is  beset  with  perils  many  and  great.  We 
need  to  make  every  ounce  of  possible  power  actual 
power.  Dare  we  for  selfish  and  petty  reasons  refuse 
that  co-operation  which  will  enable  two  to  put  ten 
thousand  to  flight  ? 

The  Greeks  were  for  generations  weakened  by  their 
inter-tribal  jealousies  and  strifes.  But  when  the  Per- 
sian appeared  on  their  borders  with  his  mighty  army 
he  proved  to  be  the  smith  who  with  the  hammer  of  war 
welded  those  separate  tribes,  glowing  in  the  fires  of 
patriotism,  into  a  mighty  nation.  May  not  the  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  which  confront  us  in  this  transitional 
period  force  the  churches  by  a  blessed  compulsion  to 
draw  together  in  close  relations  and  to  seek  the  strength 
which  comes  from  intelligent  co-operation  ? 

For  lack  of  such  co-operation  there  is  every  day  a 
waste  of  power  which  in  view  of  the  world's  needs  is 
scarcely  less  than  criminal.  On  a  sea-voyage,  Mr.  Edi- 
son, after  spending  hours  on  deck  looking  at  the  waves, 
said  that  it  made  him  wild  when  he  saw  so  much  force 
going  to  waste.  "  But  one  of  these  days,"  he  continued, 
11  we  will  chain  all  that — the  falls  of  Niagara  as  well  as 
the  winds — and  that  will  be  the  millennium  of  elec- 
tricity." There  is  as  much  unused  power  in  the  Chris- 
tian church  as  in  the  aimless  winds  and  waves  of  the 
sea;  and  it  might  well  make  a  lover  of  the  Kingdom 
wild  to  see  such  vast  resources  run  to  waste.  But  some 
clay  .this  power,  utilized  by  organization,  is  to  be  linked 
to  the  beneficent  and  intelligent  purposes  of  Christ's 
church,  and  that  will  be  God's  millennium  of  righteous- 
ness— the  Kingdom  come. 

4.  Again,  without  co-operation  the  church  cannot 
fulfil  her  social  mission. 

It  is  ^  very  large  part  of  the  social  mission  of  the 


308  THE  NEW  ERA. 

church  to  effect  needed  reforms,  and  the  progress  of 
nearly  all  reforms  depends  on  the  education  of  public 
opinion.  The  press  has  given  a  vastly  enlarged  mean- 
ing to  publicity ;  and  as  its  meaning  has  increased  so 
has  its  influence.  Men  are  growing  more  and  more 
sensitive  to  public  opinion.  Even  the  Autocrat  of  all 
the  Russias  and  the  Sublime  Porte  are  not  insensible  to 
it.  Among  occidental  peoples,  government  is  for  the 
most  part  government  by  public  opinion;  and  in  this 
country,  where  it  is  altogether  so,  evils  of  every  sort 
are  amenable  to  it.  When  the  popular  conscience  is 
properly  educated,  public  opinion  like  the  sun  is  found 
to  have  its  rays  of  heat  as  well  as  of  light.  And  when 
they  are  focalized  by  pulpit  or  press  on  some  iniquity, 
and  steadily  held  there  as  by  a  mighty  burning-glass, 
that  evil,  no  matter  how  deeply  intrenched  in  human 
ignorance  and  prejudice  and  selfishness  it  may  be,  will 
at  length  scorch  and  writhe  and  smoke  and  blaze  and 
consume  away. 

Dr.  Thomas  Arnold  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Justice  Coleridge 
said:  "  I  would  give  anything  to  be  able  to  organize  a 
society  for  drawing  public  attention  to  the  state  of  the 
laboring  classes  throughout  the  kingdom.  ...  A  society 
might  give  the  alarm,  and  present  the  facts  to  the 
notice  of  the  public.  It  was  thus  that  Clarkson  over- 
threw the  slave  trade."  All  this  and  much  more  the 
churches  might  easily  accomplish.  They  might  compel 
public  attention  not  only  to  the  evils  which  Dr.  Arnold 
deplored,  but  also  to  a  hundred  others,  and  at  the  same 
time  educate  the  public  conscience  while  they  enlight- 
ened public  opinion. 

Suppose  the  churches  apply  the  two  great  principles 
advocated  in  this  chapter  and  the  preceding.  By  co- 
operating in  systematic  visitation  they  come  into  actual 
touch  with  the  entire  life  of  the  community.  They  see 
its  poverty  and  pauperism,  its  sickness  and  its  unsani- 
tary conditions,  its  prisons  and  poorhouses;  they  dis- 
cover where  are  its  saloons  and  gambling  dens  and 
houses  of  ill-repute,  and  gather  evidence  of  tfeir  viola- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  COOPERATION.         309 

tions  of  law;  they  become  acquainted  with  the  life  of 
the  factory  operative,  the  railway  employe,  the  clerk, 
the  sewing-woman,  the  working-girl,  the  mechanic,  the 
miner,  the  unemployed;  they  learn  what  are  the 
wrongs  inflicted  on  classes  and  individuals,  what  laws 
work  hardship  and  what  good  laws  are  not  enforced; 
and  they  find  a  thousand  needs  that  can  be  met  only  by 
the  wise  helpfulness  of  a  friend. 

The  visitors  are  men  and  women  carefully  selected 
and  judiciously  assigned  to  their  respective  fields. 
Some  of  them  will  drop  out  of  the  work  when  the  nov- 
elty wears  off.  Meanwhile  recruits  will  be  made  of 
others  who  see  the  value  of  the  work  and  are  in  deep 
sympathy  with  it,  so  that  with  this  selecting  process 
and  the  results  of  experience  there  is  gained  at  length  a 
choice  body  of  men  and  women  who  have  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  the  sense  of  human  brotherhood,  who  know  how 
to  give  themselves  for  others,  who  are  living  to  make 
the  world  better,  many  of  whom  also  have  wealth, 
social  position,  and  influence. 

Now  would  it  not  be  a  saving  thing  to  the  community 
for  such  men  and  women  to  become  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  prevailing  evils,  not  as  mere  generaliza- 
tions of  which  they  have  read  or  heard  and  which  as 
generalizations  are  powerless  to  move  most  men,  but  as 
wrongs  which  have  become  real  to  them  because  in- 
dividualized— wrongs  whose  victims  are  brother  men 
they  know  or  suffering  women  and  children  in  whom 
they  have  become  deeply  interested  ?  How  long  could 
any  popular  abuse  continue  if  its  victims  had  each  one 
aroused  the  intelligent  interest  and  gained  the  Chris- 
tian friendship  of  some  good  man  or  woman,  back  of 
whom  are  the  churches  which  control  public  opinion 
touching  all  moral  questions,  and  which  are  now  organ- 
ized to  fulfil  their  wial  mission  ? 

When  men  whd  believe  that  Christianity  has  a  rem- 
edy for  the  wort  1's  great  evils  distinctly  see  those 
evils  they  will  feel  them,  and  when  they  feel  them  they 
will  bestir  themselves  to  remove  them.  Knowledge, 


310  TUB  NEW  ERA. 

then  action  !  The  great  evils  of  our  cities  are  seen 
and  felt  by  comparatively  few.  Bring  Christian  men 
and  women  into  personal  contact  with  the  homes  of  the 
city,  and  with  the  attics  and  cellars  called  homes,  and 
the  social  wrongs,  the  industrial  abuses,  and  the  name- 
less evils  which  now  thrive  in  secret  would  set  Christian 
blood  to  burning,  and  Christian  nerves  to  tingling,  and 
Christian  tongues  to  crying  aloud  until  public  senti- 
ment was  aroused;  and  in  this  country  public  senti- 
ment is  only  less  mighty  than  Omnipotence. 

Such  contact  of  the  richer  and  poorer  classes  would 
be  worth  almost  as  much  to  the  former  as  to  the  latter. 
It  would  be  the  best  possible  way  to  form  a  right  public 
opinion  in  the  churches  on  many  questions,  and  at  the 
same  time  afford  the  churches  the  most  effective  means 
of  educating  public  opinion  in  general.  Take  the  saloon 
question,  for  instance. 

Let  a  good  mail  become  thoroughly  interested  in 
rescuing  a  degraded  and  destitute  family,  and  when  he 
finds  the  saloon  meeting  him  at  every  turn  and  re- 
peatedly defeating  his  efforts,  he  will  be  very  apt  to  see 
new  light  on  the  subject  of  the  saloon  and  how  to  deal 
with  it.  There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  good  men 
who  would  like  to  see  this  curse  removed,  but  who 
think  that  "  the  time  is  not  yet  ripe  for  it."  If  these 
good  men  should  undertake  practical,  personal  rescue 
work,  they  would  probably  discover  that  they  who  are 
waiting  for  the  times  are  precisely  the  men  for  whom 
the  times  are  waiting. 

Suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  churches  under- 
take to  push  the  temperance  reform.  This  must  be 
done  by  educating  public  sentiment.  But  how  ?  Touch- 
ing this  and  all  other  reforms  we  may  divide  society 
into  three  classes,  viz.,  friends,  enemies,  and  those  who 
are  indifferent.  The  latter  class  is  the  large  class. 
Most  needed  reforms  tarry,  not  because  so  many  oppose, 
but  because  so  many  don't  care.  It  is  from  the  indif- 
ferent that  recruits  and  victories  must  be  won.  How  is 
this  class  to  be  educated  ?  When  we  announce  a  tern 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.         311 

perance  meeting,  it  is  those  who  are  already  interested 
who  attend,  and  the  indifferent,  because  they  are  in- 
different, stay  away.  That  is,  the  meeting  reaches 
those  who  need  it  least,  and  fails  to  reach  those  who 
need  it  most. 

In  like  manner  temperance  books  and  periodicals  are 
bought  only  by  those  already  interested.  The  indif 
ferent,  whom  we  wish  to  influence,  are  precisely .  the 
ones  who  will  not  buy.  We  print  tons  of  truth  every 
week,  enough  to  effect  a  dozen  reforms  in  a  twelve- 
month, if  it  were  only  read  and  pondered  by  the  right 
persons.  The  difficulty  is  that,  for  the  most  part,  only 
those  who  already  believe  it  read  it  or  know  anything 
about  it. 

If  the  church  is  to  accept  her  social  mission,  if  she  is 
to  accomplish  needed  reforms,  she  must  learn  to  reach 
the  indifferent.  How  !  The  answer  is  sufficiently  ob- 
vious. If  the  mountain  will  not  come  to  Mohammed, 
Mohammed  must  go  to  the  mountain.  Politicians  no 
longer  depend  on  great  meetings  to  form  public  senti- 
ment; they  divide  up  city  and  country  into  districts, 
and  send  workers  from  house  to  house  with  documents 
to  influence  men  personally.  Why  should  not  the 
churches  adopt  the  same  methods?  Here  is  a  noble 
opportunity  for  the  Young  People's  Societies  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  the  Ep worth  Leagues,  and  the  St.  An- 
drew's Brotherhoods.  What  if  these  societies  by 
intelligent  co-operation  should  sow  this  land  a  dozen 
times  a  year  with  wisely  selected  literature,  how  pro- 
foundly they  might  influence  public  opinion  on  many 
needed  reforms  ! 

Many  a  vicious  propaganda  is  actively  using  such 
methods  among  workingmen.  We  have  left  the  forma- 
tion of  their  economic  and  social  theories  quite  long 
enough  to  ignorant  quacks  and  conscienceless  dema- 
gogues. We  might  by  the  medium  suggested  above 
supply  their  homes  with  good,  bright,  wholesome  read- 
ing matter  which  would  supplant  the  lying  tracts  and 
the  sensational  story -papers — the  poison  and  the  highly 


312  THE  NEW  ERA. 

seasoned  sawdust — which  so  many  now  devour  for 
food.  Neighborhoods  might  be  supplied  with  little 
libraries  of  a  dozen  books  each,  which  would  be  read 
by  working  people  and  exchanged  among  themselves 
when  too  tired  to  dress  up  for  a  visit  to  a  reading-room 
or  the  public  library. 

The  various  societies  of  young  people  referred  to 
have  been  giving  their  members  good  drill  for  several 
years.  That  is  well,  but  only  preparatory.  The  camp 
exists  not  for  itself,  but  for  the  field  of  action.  Is  not 
this  the  forward  movement  which  these  magnificent 
Christian  armies  need  to  make?  It  will  cost  some 
effort,  some  sacrifice;  but  it  would  not  be  worth  the 
doing  if  it  did  not. 

The  Young  Peoples'  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor 
are  peculiarly  adapted  to  this  kind  of  work.  They  em- 
phasize the  two  great  principles  of  co-operation  and  per- 
sonal effort.  Unlike  many  others,  they  are  ivithin  the 
churches,  and  at  the  same  time  mfer-denominational. 
The  new  methods  demanded  by  changed  conditions  are 
far  more  readily  accepted  by  young  Christians  than  by 
their  elders ;  and  youthful  zeal  easily  kindles  into  enthu- 
siasm. Surely  this  movement  is  the  divine  method  o£ 
preparing  the  churches  for  the  new  era  that  is  dawning. 
In  a  dozen  years  this  organization  has  reached  the  as- 
tonishing growth  of  1,700,000  members.  What  may  it 
not  become,  what  may  it  not  do,  in  twelve  years  more  : 

Furthermore,  co-operation  would  not  only  afford  the 
churches  a  means  of  educating  public  opinion,  but  also 
a  medium  for  expressing  it,  which  is  hardly  less 
needed.  Not  unfrequently  there  are  bills  before  our 
state  legislatures  or  the  national  congress  which  do 
violence  to  the  moral  sense  and  the  Christian  con- 
science of  the  people.  The  obnoxious  measure  may 
arouse  popular  indignation,  but  before  the  storm  can 
gather  and  break  the  bill  becomes  a  law.  The  dis- 
graceful New  Jersey  race-track  legislation  in  the  in- 
terest of  gambling  affords  a  good  illustration. 

If  now  the  churches  of  each  city  and  town  were  or- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.  313 

ganized  for  co-operation,  constituting  what  might  be 
called  the  collective  church  of  the  community,  and 
these  collective  churches  were  knit  together  into 
county  and  state  organizations — all  of  which  is  entirely 
practicable — the  Christian  public  opinion  of  the  state 
could  quickly  and  emphatically  utter  itself.  By  means 
of  such  an  organization  an  immoral  bill,  within  one 
week  of  its  introduction,  could  be  crushed  with  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  protests. 

And  Christian  men,  if  they  will  find  each  other  out 
and  co-operate,  can  make  and  unmake  not  only  the 
laws  spread  on  the  statute-book  of  the  state,  but  also 
the  stronger,  unwritten,  and  self-enforcing  laws  of 
society.  The  church  might  thus  become  what  it  ought 
always  to  have  been — the  controlling  conscience  of  the 
social  organism.  This  the  church  must  become,  if  it  is 
to  reconstruct  society  on  Christian  principles.  There 
is  a  vast  and  important  remedial  work  yet  to  be  done, 
but  there  is  another  work  still  more  important.  It  is 
more  important  to  prevent  pauperism  than  to  cure  it, 
more  important  to  stop  producing  criminals  than  to 
reform  them;  and  if  our  social  system  is  to  be  so  re- 
adjusted and  reformed  as  to  remove  the  causes  of 
pauperism  and  crime,  the  churches  must  take  large 
views  of  their  relations  to  society,  must  recognize  their 
obligation  to  teach  the  second  great  law  of  Christ, 
and,  as  the  social  conscience,  must  hold  all  men,  all 
corporations,  all  institutions,  to  a  faithful  observance 
of  that  law.  All  of  which  is  impossible,  without  some 
form  of  organization  and  co-operation. 

Precisely  what  form  organization  and  co-operation 
are  to  take  is  still  something  of  a  question ;  that  they 
are  coming  in  some  form  I  do  not  doubt.  Some  advo- 
cate denominational  federation,  which  would  make 
possible  an  official  ecclesiastical  co-operation.  This 
would  be  good  so  far  as  it  went,  but  such  co-operation 
would  be  subject  to  very  serious  limitations.  It  would 
stop  the  competition  of  the  various  home-missionary 
societies,  which  would  be  a  great  economy  of  men  and 


314  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  money  and  a  distinct  gain  every  way ;  but  such  a 
body  would  be  weak  in  the  prosecution  of  reforms  and 
in  attempts  to  solve  the  great  sociological  problems  of 
our  times.  On  all  such  questions  its  position  would 
necessarily  be  conservative ;  it  could  not  lead.  It  could 
never  go  faster  than  the  slowest  denomination  entering 
into  the  federation.  As  there  could  be  no  compulsion, 
the  denomination  which  was  least  advanced  on  any 
question  would  necessarily  determine  the  position  of 
the  federated  body  on  that  question.  Such  would  be 
the  result  of  federation  at  the  top. 

Federation  at  the  bottom  promises  larger  results.  By 
that  I  mean  the  federation  of  the  local  churches.  A 
half-dozen  neighboring  churches,  representing  as  many 
denominations,  can  be  induced  to  take  a  much  more 
advanced  position  concerning  needed  reforms  and  new 
methods  of  work  than  the  half-dozen  denominations 
which  they  represent.  The  conservatism  of  one  com- 
munity would  not  keep  back  a  less  conservative  com- 
munity; and  a  conservative  church  by  declining  to 
enter  into  the  federation  would  not  keep  back  less  con- 
servative churches  of  the  same  communion.1 

This  federation  of  local  churches,  or  this  collective 
church,  might  enter  into  co-operative  relations  with 
other  like  federations  to  form  county  and  state  organi- 
zations. Such  organizations  would  have  no  ecclesias- 
tical authority,  but  they  would  be  far  more  aggressive 
and  have  vastly  more  influence  than  a  federation  of 
entire  denominations. 

There  are  increasing  indications  that  if  the  churches 
do  not  soon  organize  for  the  prosecution  of  social  re- 
forms they  will  lose  their  opportunity  of  leadership  and 
with  it  their  great  opportunity  to  regain  their  lost  hold 
on  the  masses  and  to  shape  the  civilization  of  the 
future.  For  good  men,  representing  reforms  and  phil- 
anthropic interests  which  have  sprung  up  outside  the 
churches,  are  beginning  to  feel  after  some  form  of 
organization  which  will  afford  the  advantages  of  co- 
1  See  article  by  the  author  in  The  litvitw  of  Reviews,  Oct.  18&8. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO-OPERATION.  315 

operation.  Some  common  centre  is  needed  in  the  inter- 
est of  economy  and  efficiency  where  efforts  to  improve 
the  community  may  be  co-ordinated  and  adjusted  to 
each  other  in  some  comprehensive  plan— a  common 
centre  to  which  information  may  be  brought  and  to 
which  suggestions  and  complaints  majr  be  made — a 
common  centre,  too,  where  the  good  citizens  of  the 
community  who  want  a  better  state  of  things  can  find 
each  other.  Elijah  was  disheartened  and  God's  chosen 
ones  in  Israel  were  weak  because  the  seven  thousand 
who  feared  God  were  known  only  to  him  and  not  to 
each  other.  In  the  city  there  are  "  seven  thousand" 
men  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the  Baal  of  the 
political  machine  or  kissed  the  Mammon  of  utterly 
selfish  living,  but  who  are  weak  and  disheartened  be- 
cause they  are  ignorant  of  each  other.  And  they  will 
remain  weak  and  disheartened  as  long  as  they  each 
one  think,  "I,  even  I  only,  am  left."  Doubtless  there 
are  enough  good  men  in  every  community  to  save  it, 
it'  they  would  only  find  each  other  and  act  together. 

5.  Again,  we  need  co-operation  because  it  is  a  -neces- 
sary step  toward  organic  union. 

If  we  were  perfectly  frank  one  with  another,  I 
think  it  would  appear  that  the  most  serious  obstacle  to 
organic  union  is  not  differences  of  creed  or  polity  or 
ritual,  but  a  lack  of  entire  confidence.  The  secret  of 
sectarian  competition  is  the  belief  (not  always  unex- 
pressed) that  the  world  stands  in  peculiar  need  of  our 
church  and  the  type  of  character  produced  by  it;  the 
conviction  that  we  are  a  little  nearer  the  Lord  and  a 
little  more  pleasing  to  him  than  any  others. 

Ignorance  naturally  breeds  suspicion;  our  lack  of 
confidence  is  due  to  a  lack  of  acquaintance.  When 
we  get  near  enough  to  a  man  to  see  in  him  the  likeness 
of  Christ,  whether  he  be  white  or  black,  red  or  yellow, 
we  must  needs  love  him;  whatever  be  the  name  by 
which  he  is  called,  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic,  even 
though  he  refuses  to  fellowship  us,  we  must  love  him  in 
spite  of  himself.  But  the  various  Christian  denomina/- 


316  THE  NEW  ERA. 

tions  have  not  come  near  enough  to  each  other  to  see 
distinctly  that  image  of  the  common  Master.  Let  them 
join  in  co-operative  work,  and  they  will  get  acquainted. 
Let  them  draw  near  enough  for  united  action,  and  with 
shoulder  to  shoulder  they  will  feel  each  other's  hearts 
beating  in  the  same  loyalty  to  the  same  Lord,  and  then 
they  will  grow  in  mutual  confidence  and  love. 

Organic  union  involves  co-operation  and  much  more ; 
churches,  therefore,  which  cannot  co-operate  are  in- 
capable of  organic  union.  Inasmuch  as  co-operation  is 
a  necessary  step  toward  union,  a  church  or  a  denomi- 
nation which  advocates  the  latter  and  yet  refuses  to 
practise  the  former  is  like  a  man  standing  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  flight  of  steps,  longing  to  reach  the  top,  but 
refusing  to  take  the  first  step  because  it  is  not  the  last. 
He  scorns  the  low  level  of  the  first  step  because,  as  he 
says,  it  is  of  the  nature  of  a  compromise,  and  a  man 
with  his  high  aims  will  have  none  of  it.  Those  who 
advocate  union  and  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  co- 
operation show  little  Christian  statesmanship. 

Dr.  John  Henry  Barrows  writes1:  "The  churches 
must  first  learn  to  co-operate,  and  then  later  they  will 
achieve  whatever  unity  seems  desirable."  And  the 
lamented  Dr.  Eoswell  D.  Hitchcock  said  a  short  time 
before  his  death  :  "  If  ever  organic  union  comes,  it  will 
come  through  co-operation."  Certainly  churches  and 
denominations  which  cannot  co-operate  cannot  coalesce. 

Now  the  best  possible  field  for  co-operation  is  the 
philanthropic.  As  Canon  Fremantle  says 2 :  "The  surest 
way  to  get  rid  of  sectarianism  is  to  find  new  ground 
which  is  unaffected  by  it.'1  Happily  there  exist  among 
the  churches  no  historical  differences  along  sociological 
lines.  Though  divided  in  doctrine  and  polity,  and 
though  they  might  differ  widely  as  to  methods  of 
evangelization,  they  can  unite  in  seeking  to  solve  the 
problems  of  labor,  of  pauperism,  and  of  crime.  The 
magnitude  of  these  problems  which  confront  the 

i  The  Independent,  Dec.  15,  1892. 

»  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life,  p.  10. 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  CO  OPERATION.  317 

churches  demands  their  united  efforts.  Many  reforms 
and  Christian  enterprises  are  as  impossible  to  the 
churches  acting  independently  as  they  are  practicable 
to  co-operating  forces.  Here,  then,  in  the  field  of 
applied  Christianity  the  co-operation  of  the  churches 
is  at  the  same  time  the  most  needed  and  the  most 
practicable. 

All  churches  known  as  Evangelical  hold  the  great 
essentials  of  Christianity  in  common;  they  differ  only 
in  non-essentials.  Is  it  not  evident  that  the  churches 
of  one  community,  which  are  united  in  the  great  essen- 
tials of  Christian  faith  and  experience,  and  which  at  the 
same  time  share  the  great  responsibility  of  Christian- 
izing that  community,  are  in  reality  much  more  closely 
related  to  each  other  than  to  churches  a  hundred  or  a 
thousand  miles  away,  with  which  the  only  distinctive 
bond  is  some  non-essential  of  doctrine  or  a  common 
form  of  government  or  ritual  ?  Are  not  the  common 
work,  the  common  difficulties,  the  common  responsi- 
bilities and  opportunities,  of  churches  in  the  same  city 
or  town  more  than  the  mere  name  or  the  form  of 
organization  which  they  share  in  common  with  the 
churches  of  distant  communities?  May  it  not  be  that 
the  cordial  recognition  of  this  fact  and  the  active 
co-operation  which  would  follow  would  do  more  for 
Christian  union  than  the  official  action  of  ecclesiastical 
bodies  ? 

We  have  seen  that  the  great  tendency  of  the  times  is 
toward  combination,  co-operation,  organization.  Car- 
lyle  somewhere  describes  the  insight  of  genius  as  a 
"co-operation  with  the  real  tendency  of  the  world." 
If  we  cannot  claim  the  "insight  of  genius"  for  the 
churches,  may  we  not  at  least  look  for  sufficient  insight 
of  common-sense  to  discern  the  obvious  signs  of  the 
times,  to  see  the  great  march  of  events,  and  to  place 
themselves  abreast  of  the  mighty  forces  which  are 
moulding  the  civilization  of  the  new  era? 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  TWO    GREAT   PRINCIPLES   APPLIED  TO  THE  TWO  GREAT 
PROBLEMS. 

THE  problem  of  the  country  and  that  of  the  city  may 
be  called  generic,  so  that  to  solve  these  two  great  prob- 
lems is  to  solve  many. 

There  have  been  pointed  out  two  great  principles, 
harmonious  with  man's  constitution,  with  the  funda- 
mental teachings  of  Christ,  and  with  the  laws  of  his- 
torical development.  Of  the  truth  and  importance  of 
these  principles  I  am  absolutely  sure.  That  they  must 
be  applied  before  the  Kingdom  can  fully  come,  I  am 
equally  sure.  That  the  two  great  problems  before  us 
are  to  be  solved  by  the  application  of  these  two  princi- 
ples I  cannot  doubt,  but  of  specific  methods  of  applying 
them  I  speak  with  diffidence,  and  of  course  subject  to 
the  correction  of  wiser  men  and  to  the  test  of  more  ex- 
tended experiment. 

Methods  must  be  simple  and  flexible,  and  vary  with 
the  varying  needs  and  conditions  of  different  communi- 
ties. One  of  the  following  would  seem  to  be  adapted 
or  adaptable  to  every  city  and  to  every  village  having 
two  or  more  churches. 

Let  the  churches  come  together  by  their  pastors  and 
a  given  number  of  lay  representatives  from  each 
church,  chosen  as  the  churches  may  see  fit.  In  villages 
where  there  are  but  few  churches,  it  may  be  desirable 
to  make  every  member  of  any  church  who  is  interested 
in  the  objects  of  the  organization  eligible  to  member- 
ship. This  lay  element  differentiates  the  organization 
from  the  ministerial  association  where  one  exists, 
makes  it  more  representative  of  the  churches,  and 

318 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  319 

probably  renders  its  discussions  less  speculative  and 
more  practical. 
Its  objects  are  as  follows  : 

1.  To  afford  a  point  of  contact  for  the  churches — a 
common  centre,  the  need  of  which  was  presented  in  the 
preceding    chapter.     The  several    churches  constitute 
the  collective  church  of  the  community,  of  which  this 
is  the  official  board  or  executive  committee. 

2.  To    cultivate   the    fellowship    of    the    churches. 
Creeds  were    once  made    the  chief  and  almost    only 
ground  of  fellowship  and,  hence,  of  disfellowship.    But 
with  the  growth  of  individualism  there  has  been  con- 
ceded a  much  larger  liberty  of  belief.     Moreover,  men 
are  learning  to  distinguish  essentials  from  non-essen- 
tials.   As  a  matter  of  fact  the  lay  membership  of  the 
various  evangelical  denominations  is  not  separated  to 
any    considerable    extent    by    creeds,   but    rather    by 
temperament,  habit,  and  inheritance.     Probably  nine 
tenths  of  the  members  of  any  one  of  these  denomina- 
tions would  to-day  be  members  of  any  other,  if  their 
parents  had  been.     The  lack  of  fellowship  and  confi- 
dence, so  far  as  it  exists,  is  due  almost  wholly  to  a  lack 
of  acquaintance. 

3.  To    foster  co-operation,   with    all  the  advantages 
enumerated  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

4.  To  cultivate  a  broader  idea  of  the  mission  of  the 
churches,   and  to  study  the  problems  of  the  times  com- 
mon  to  all  communities,  together  with  those  peculiar 
to  the  manufacturing  city,  the  commercial  centre,  the 
lumber  town,  the  mining  camp,  the  agricultural  dis- 
trict, and  the  like  ;  thus  enabling  the  collective  church 
to  undertake  its  social  mission  by  consciously  and  in- 
telligently attempting  to  apply  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  entire  life  of  the  comrmmity. 

Such  a  committee  of  the  churches  enables  them  to 
undertake  their  own  proper  work  instead  of  handing 
it  over  to  outside  organisations.  The  collective  church 
is  concerned  with  everything  that  Christianity  WMS  in- 
tended to  do  for  the  community  in  which  it  exists,  and 


320  THE  NEW  ERA. 

its  committee  is  a  Sabbath  committee,  a  temperance 
organization,  a  law  and  order  league,  a  society  for  tene- 
ment-house reform,  and  for  every  other  reform  which 
is  related  to  human  welfare,  just  so  far  as  the  churches 
are  educated  up  to  their  social  mission. 

The  Gospel  will  prove  to  be  the  panacea  of  the  moral, 
and  ultimately  of  the  physical,  evils  of  the  world  ;  and 
the  commission  of  the  church  to  apply  it  is  as  broad  as 
the  wide  world's  needs.  When  this  commission  is  in- 
telligently accepted,  the  best  brains  and  hearts  of  the 
community  will  meet  statedly  to  study  its  problems 
and  to  apply  to  their  solution  the  principles  taught 
by  Jesus. 

5.  To  afford  a  means  of  crystallizing,  and  a  medium 
of  expressing,  the  public  sentiment  of  the  churches  as 
occasion  may  require;  thus  enabling  the  collective 
church  to  perform  its  function  as  the  conscience  of  the 
social  organism. 

The  above  represents  the  simplest  form  of  organiza- 
tion. Another  might  differ  from  it  only  in  scope. 
Formed  in  the  same  way,  it  has  the  same  objects,  but 
in  addition  undertakes  an  annual  canvass  of  the  com- 
munity. 

There  are  many  cities  and  towns  which  are  not  ready 
to  begin  systematic  visitation,  and  would  not  sustain 
it  if  they  did,  but  which  feel  the  need  of  a  more  exact 
knowledge  of  the  population  and  of  some  concerted 
action  in  order  to  reach  the  multitude  with  Christian 
influence.  An  annual  canvass,  properly  followed  up 
by  each  church,  is  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  such 
communities.  It  shows  where  the  new-comers  are.  It 
reveals  who  are  the  non-church-goers  and  what  are 
their  church  preferences.  It  finds  many  laid-away 
church  letters.  It  makes  the  churches  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  condition  of  the  masses  and  serves 
to  bring  them  into  closer  relations.  It  sometimes  re- 
veals needs  which  had  been  unknown  or  at  least  unap- 
preciated, and  furnishes  data  for  the  intelligent  location 
of  new  missions  or  the  inauguration  of  benevolent  en- 


TWO  ORE  AT  PRINCIPLES.  321 

terprises.  It  affords  an  annual  opportunity  to  furnish 
the  city  or  town  with  the  Scriptures  and  other  religious 
reading,  to  gather  the  children  into  Sabbath  schools, 
and  to  invite  the  whole  population  to  attend  the  church 
of  their  preference. 

Of  course  the  knowledge  gaine'd  by  a  canvass  is  use- 
less unless  used.  Every  co-operating  church  needs  a 
committee  of  visitors  who  shall  assist  their  pastor  in 
attaching  to  their  church  all  the  newly-discovered 
families  who  express  a  preference  for  it. 

This  annual  canvass  is  made  by  paid,  skilled  labor 
or  by  the  gratuitous  work  of  church  visitors.  In  the 
latter  case,  discretion  must  be  used,  of  course,  in  the 
assignment  of  districts  to  canvassers. 

Another  form  of  organization,  having  the  same  gen- 
eral objects  as  those  already  described,  is  distinguished 
by  systematic  visitation.  There  is  an  important  differ- 
ence between  the  canvasser  and  the  visitor.  The 
former  is  a  stranger  (in  all  cities),  the  latter  becomes  a 
friend.  The  primary  object  of  the  one  is  information, 
that  of  the  other  is  influence.  The  visitor  accomplishes 
all  that  the  canvasser  does  and  much  more.  He  makes 
the  several  families  assigned  to  him  (or  her)  a  study; 
he  seeks  to  gain  their  confidence,  to  do  them  good  in 
every  possible  way,  and  then  uses  the  influence  thus 
acquired  to  win  them  to  Christ  and  the  church.  Oc- 
tavia  Hill  says '  :  "If  once  you  have  got  a  wise  and 
loving  heart  established  in  close  personal  relations  with 
a  small  number  of  families,  you  have  got  an  arrange- 
ment capable  of  being  utilized  to  almost  any  extent." 

The  essential  features  of  this  method  may  be  stated 
as  follows : 

1.  The  churches  of  a  community  agree  to  divide  the 
territory  among  themselves,  no  church  taking  more 
than  it  can  work  thoroughly.  It  is  far  better  to  work 
one  half  of  a  city  or  township  well  than  to  half  work 
the  whole.  But  what  if  some  very  conservative  church 
refuses  to  co-operate  ?  That  need  not  keep  back  the 

1  The  Nineteenth  Century. 


322  THE  NEW  ERA. 

others.  Let  them  organize  and  move  on.  When  the 
church  which  refuses  to  co-operate  has  had  her  nap  out 
she  will  wake  up  to  discover  that  she  has  been  left  far 
behind. 

2.  Each  co-operating  church  holds  itself  responsible  to 
carry  the  Gospel,  by  "repeated  visitation,  to  every  non- 
church-going  family  in  its  district.     It  will  commonly 
be  found,  I  think,  that  the  non-church-goers  are  more 
easily  influenced  if  the  church-goers  are  included  in 
the  visitation  ;  the  object  in  calling  on  the  latter  being 
to  arouse  their  interest  and  to  enlist  their  co  operation 
in  influencing  their  non-church-going  neighbors. 

3.  It  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  district 
does  not  in  any  sense  limit  the  activity  of  the  church  ac- 
cepting it  or  that  of  other  churches.     The  district  is  not 
a  parish  with  exclusive  rights ;  its  boundary  lines  may 
be  crossed  either  way.    When  a  church  accepts  a  dis- 
trict it  surrenders   no  rights    in  other    districts,  but 
agrees  to  see  that  at  least   every  family  within  the 
assigned  limit  is  reached  by  Christian  influence.     It  is 
perfectly  at  liberty  to  reach  as   many  more  families 
elsewhere  as  it  is  able. 

4.  The    invitations    to    church    and    Sabbath-school 
should  be  given  in   the  name  of  all  the  co-operating 
churches,  and  notice  of  preferences  sent  to  the  churches 
or  pastors  for  whom  preference  is  expressed.     It  is  very 
important  that  a  church  should  not  discontinue  its  visits 
as  soon  as  a  preference  is  expressed  for  some  other,  but 
to  continue  its  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  preferred  church 
until  the  family  is  well  identified  with  it,  or  until  a  vis- 
itor from  that  church  has  taken  the  family  in  hand. 

5.  Each  church  is  left  perfectly  free  to  adopt  its  own 
method  of  work.    Some  will  leave  the  pastor  to  do  it  all 
until  he  discovers  that  he  cannot.     Some  will  commit  it 
to  the  officers  of  the  church.     Some  will  employ  the  paid 
services  of  missionaries;  but  it  is  to  be  hoped,  for  the 
sake  of  the  spiritual  quickening  of  the  churches,  that  the 
work  will  generally  be  done  by  the  laity.     In  the  latter 
case  the  church  will  select  as  many  visitors  and  super- 


TWO   GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  323 

visors  as  it  pleases.  The  object  of  having  supervisors  is 
to  secure  the  greater  efficiency  of  the  work  and  to  avoid 
overtaxing  the  pastor. 

6.  The  co-operating  churches  meet  monthly,  bi- 
monthly, or  quarterly,  to  report  the  work  done,  to  de- 
vise and  execute  plans  for  meeting  the  needs  which 
have  been  disclosed,  and  to  profit  by  each  other's  expe- 
rience. 

The  churches  may  be  employing  a  half-dozen  different 
methods,  but  this  habitual  comparing  of  results  will 
naturally  lead  to  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

This  method  of  work  makes  application  of  the  two 
fundamental  principles  of  co-operation  and  personal 
effort  or  personal  contact,  and  is  equally  applicable  to 
country  and  city.  But  let  us  apply  these  two  principles 
more  specifically  to — 

I.  The  problem  of  the  country.  There  are  hamlets 
where  there  are  no  churches,  and  others  where  the 
churches  are  pastorless  and  more  dead  than  alive — quite 
too  torpid  to  undertake  such  a  work  as  has  been  out- 
lined. Where  the  need  of  aggressive  Christian  work 
is  greatest,  there  are  the  least  ability  and  disposition 
to  undertake  it.  To  meet  such  conditions  a  county  or- 
ganization is  needed.  There  are  few  counties  except  in 
the  newer  states  where  there  are  not  several  strong 
churches.  If  these  churches  would  accept  a  responsi- 
bility for  the  whole  county,  it  would  be  the  first  great 
step  toward  solving  the  problem  of  the  country.  And 
these  strong  churches  may  well  recognize  a  responsibil- 
ity for  the  rural  districts,  for  they  have  grown  strong  at 
the  expense  of  the  rural  churches.  The  removals  from 
the  villages  which  have  depleted  so  many  country 
churches  have  added  just  so  much  strength  to  the 
churches  of  the  county -seat  or  of  some  other  smart  city. 
So  that  if  the  strong  churches  should  share  the  labors  of 
the  weak  ones,  it  would  be  in  many  instances  only  the 
payment  of  a  just  debt. 

If  it  is  the  duty  of  the  churches  of  a  county  to  evan- 
gelize that  county,  then  the  responsibility  rests  on  each 


324  THE  NEW  ERA. 

according  to  its  ability.  If  the  churches  of  the  county- 
seat  have  grown  strong  until  they  contain  one  half  of 
the  numerical  and  financial  strength  of  the  churches  of 
the  county,  though  the  county  contains  a  dozen  town- 
ships, the  churches  of  this  one  township  may  fairly  be 
said  to  bear  as  much  responsibility  for  the  whole  county 
as  all  the  churches  of  the  remaining  eleven. 

The  feeblest  churches  are  in  the  most  destitute  dis- 
tricts. So  that  without  co-operation  the  greatest  bur- 
dens often  rest  on  the  weakest  churches.  If  now  the 
churches  of  a  county  will  organize  and  co-operate  to 
discharge  their  responsibility  to  the  whole  county,  the 
work  can  be  so  divided  as  to  adapt  the  burden  to  the 
strength  of  each. 

This  county  organization  could  foster  the  formation 
of  local  organizations  in  the  several  townships,  on  some 
one  of  the  plans  suggested  above.  To  the  most  destitute 
neighborhoods,  not  reached  by  the  churches,  it  could 
send  a  county  missionary,  who  would  visit  the  people  in 
their  homes,  distribute  religious  and  temperance  liter- 
ature, hold  cottage  meetings,  and  organize  Sunday- 
schools.  Such  a  missionary  could  make  the  rounds  of 
these  destitute  districts  several  times  a  year.  Young 
•women  from  Mr.  Moody's  Training  School  at  Northfield 
have  been  employed  to  do  such  work  in  some  of  the 
neglected  districts  of  Vermont,  and  the  reports  of  their 
success  have  been  very  gratifying. 

Fellowship  meetings  might  be  held  throughout  the 
county  which  would  do  much  to  allay  sectarian  strife 
and  to  quicken  spiritual  life.  Lecture  courses  might 
be  arranged  which  would  be  stimulating  and  helpful. 
Loan  libraries  might  be  put  in  circulation,  different  sec- 
tions being  sent  to  different  towns,  and  periodically 
exchanged.  Such  a  county  organization  would  be  effec- 
tive in  the  prosecution  of  all  needed  reforms,  would 
make  the  churches  the  most  powerful  agency  in  every 
good  work,  and  at  length  win  for  them  a  commanding 
influence  in  all  departments  of  human  life. 

The  Andover  Band  of  Maine  is  a  company  of  five 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  325 

young  ministers,  who,  having  associated  themselves, 
while  yet  in  the  seminary,  to  help  solve  the  problem 
of  the  country,  were  settled  near  each  other  over  five 
feeble  churches  in  Maine.  This  band  has  been  instru- 
mental in  organizing  a  monthly  reunion  of  the  ministers 
of  all  denominations  in  the  county,  which  has  proved 
helpful  in  many  ways.  It  is  an  all-day  meeting,  afford- 
ing opportunity  for  fellowship,  devotional  exercises, 
reports,  papers,  discussions,  and  suggestions.1  While 
perhaps  few  such  organizations  would  care  to  meet 
every  month,  a  quarterly  meeting  or  only  an  annual 
meeting  might  do  much  to  facilitate  co-operation. 

Let  the  churches  of  a  county  be  inspired  with  the 
New  Testament  conception  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the 
earth,  let  them  gain  some  sense  of  their  responsibility 
for  the  welfare  of  society,  and  they  would  soon  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  co-operation  in  order  to  discharge 
that  responsibility.  Having  formed  such  an  organiza- 
tion as  that  described  above,  and  Having  gained  a  clear 
conception  of  the  problem  of  the  country  which  springs 
from  the  drift  of  population  cityward,  they  could  soon 
solve  it  by  devising  effective  measures  to  prevent  the 
deterioration  which  attends  increasing  isolation. 

If  only  a  few  ministers  in  the  county  have  seen  the 
vision  of  the  Kingdom  and  have  felt  the  impulse  of  the 
coming  social  movement,  they  can  make  an  important 
contribution  to  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  coun- 
try by  forming  such  a  county  organization,  which 
would  greatly  aid  in  giving  currency  to  enlarged  ideas 
and  new  methods. 

Country  communities  stand  in  peculiar  need  of  some 
of  the  new  institutional  methods  of  church  work,  the 
practicability  and  value  of  which  in  rural  districts  have 
been  already  demonstrated.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
inability  of  a  feeble  church  to  inaugurate  such  methods 
alone  will  lead  the  churches  of  many  a  village  to  co- 
operate in  making  provision  for  the  intellectual  and 
social  life  of  the  community. 

1  The  Andover  Review,  March-April,  1898. 


326  THE  NEW  ERA. 

The  isolation  of  dwellers  in  the  country  has  made 
them  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  co- 
operation; but  they  are  beginning  to  learn  that  by 
means  of  it  they  can  secure  larger  returns  for  the  same 
or  less  outlay.  For  instance,  it  has  been  proved  by  ex- 
perience that  one  large  graded  school  centrally  located, 
to  which  the  children  are  brought  by  free  carriage, 
is  not  only  cheaper  than  several  schools  scattered 
through  as  many  districts,  but  affords  vastly  better 
training.  This  new  method,  which  may  yet  revolution- 
ize the  educational  system  of  country  communities, 
originated  some  years  since  in  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
and  is  now  spreading  quite  rapidly.  "Bedford  has 
taken  up  the  same  idea.  It  has  closed  its  four  outlying 
schools  and  now  has  but  one  schoolhouse,  located  at  the 
centre,  with  accommodations  for  High,  Grammar,  In- 
termediate, and  Primary  schools,  all  in  this  building. 
Instead  of  seven  teachers,  four  are  now  found  sufficient. 
The  children  are  daily  brought  from  their  homes  and 
returned  at  the  expense  of  the  town,  and  farmers'  wives 
are  hired  as  drivers,  the  service  costing  only  six  dollars 
a  week  for  each  conveyance.  The  school  is  now  pro- 
nounced by  competent  judges  equal  to  any  in  the  large 
cities,  while  no  child  has  to  walk  over  a  third  of  a  mile 
and  the  cost  of  the  schooling  is  no  more  than  under  the 
district  plan.  By  the  new  method  real  estate  in  out- 
lying districts  has  improved  in  value,  owners  recogniz- 
ing that  their  children  have  new  advantages."  ' 

In  like  manner  co-operation  will  secure  good  roads, 
without  which  good  schools  and  strong  churches  are 
well-nigh  impossible.  Good  roads  also  give  an  upward 
impulse  to  property  and  serve  to  relieve  isolation. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  depressing  and  deteriorating 
influences  of  isolation  may  be  largely  or  entirely  over- 
come by  the  principle  of  co-operation,  variously  applied, 
and  by  Christian  visitation. 

But  the  very  great  and  prevalent  evil  of  too  many 
and  competing  churches  in  the  country  requires  heroic 

1  Dr.  Addison  P.  Foster  in  The  Advance,  September  22,  1892. 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  327 

treatment.  Experience  thus  far  does  not  encourage 
the  hope  that  union  churches  will  afford  a  solution  of 
the  problem.  We  need  a  new  and  brief  age  of  Christian 
martyrdom,  in  which  many  churches  shall  suffer  death 
for  the  glory  of  God.  But  who  shall  select  the  victims  ? 
We  can  hardly  expect  many  responses  to  a  call  for  vol- 
unteers. 

Suppose  there  were  a  state  committee,  selected  so  as 
to  represent  the  various  denominations  concerned  and 
the  different  sections  of  the  state.  Let  the  character  of 
the  committee  and  the  method  of  choosing  it  be  such  as 
to  command  the  entire  confidence  of  the  several  denom- 
inations. This  committee,  with  the  aid  of  the  last 
census,  could  easily  be  made  acquainted  with  the  facts 
concerning  superfluous  churches.  Suppose,  after  con- 
sidering the  population  of  a  community,  the  prospect  of 
its  growth,  the  number  of  churches,  the  numerical  and 
financial  strength  of  each,  the  hold  which  each  has  on 
the  people,  and  every  other  pertinent  point,  the  com- 
mittee is  unanimously  agreed  that  a  certain  church  or 
certain  churches  ought  to  be  disbanded.  As  this  opin- 
ion would  be  intelligent  and  disinterested,  and  shared 
by  those  members  of  the  committee  who  represent  the 
denominations  of  the  condemned  churches,  there  could 
be  little  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  the  judgment,  and 
it  would  certainly  have  great  weight  with  the  public. 
I  do  not,  however,  imagine  for  a  moment  that  a  church 
whose  sectarian  spirit  has  grown  lusty  by  fierce  com- 
petition would  have  grace  enough  to  die  on  the  simple 
recommendation  of  such  a  committee.  The  "dying 
grace"  would  have  to  be  bestowed  by  ecclesiastical 
authority  or  by  the  denominational  home-missionary 
society,  which  in  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty  keeps  the 
struggling  church  alive. 

In  those  denominations,  like  the  Baptist  and  the  Con- 
gregational, in  which  the  local  church  has  entire  auton- 
omy, there  is  no  ecclesiastical  authority  that  could 
compel  the  dissolution  of  the  church.  All  that  could  be 
done,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  such  a  church  whicfy 


328  THE  NEW  ERA. 

refused  to  take  itself  off,  woiuld  be  to  withdraw  home- 
missionary  aid.  If  a  few  people  insist  on  wearing 
expensive  ecclesiastical  frills  of  a  certain  distinctive 
pattern,  they  should  be  required  to  do  it  at  their  own 
expense. 

If  the  missionary  societies  of  the  leading  denomina- 
tions should  agree  that  they  would  give  no  aid  to  any 
church  condemned  by  such  a  committee,  the  withdrawal 
of  aid  would,  in  most  cases,  be  decisive  of  the  result; 
and  even  where  it  was  not,  the  money  which  had  for- 
merly been  worse  than  squandered  would  now  be  saved 
for  fields  suffering  for  the  lack  of  it. 

A  number  of  the  great  denominational  home-mission- 
ary societies  would  undoubtedly  agree  to  such  a  plan. 
Some  would  at  first  refuse,  but  their  refusal  would 
throw  on  them  the  responsibility,  and  I  may  add  the 
odium,  for  the  continuance  of  the  existing  waste.  Pub- 
lic opinion  on  this  subject  is  having  a  healthy  growth, 
and  even  ecclesiastical  narrowness  cannot  always  resist 
its  influence,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  pub- 
lic holds  the  purse  out  of  which  home-missionary  socie- 
ties live.  If  such  state  committees  were  formed,  and 
several  of  the  large  denominational  societies  should 
come  to  such  an  agreement,  it  would  solve  the  problem 
in  all  communities  where  there  were  only  such  churches 
a:3  represented  the  communion  of  the  several  co-oper- 
ating societies.  And  the  good  results  which  would 
certainly  appear  in  due  time  would  constitute  an  unen- 
durable criticism  on  those  denominations  which  by 
their  narrowness  maintained  the  division,  strife,  and 
weakness  of  the  churches  in  other  communities. 

If  such  a  plan  were  generally  adopted,  the  home- 
missionary  societies  would  each  save  many  thousands 
of  dollars  annually  for  needy  fields  in  the  city  and  on 
the  frontier,  now  neglected  for  lack  of  funds.  While 
each  denomination  would  lose  a  number  of  feeble  and 
dependent  churches,  none  would  lose  any  considerable 
membership,  for  losses  in  one  community  would  be 
compensated  by  gains  in  another.  Thus  in  each  of  two 


TWO  GREAT  PRTNCIPLE8.  329 

towns  in  North  Dakota  there  was  a  Congregational  and 
a  Presbyterian  church.  As  the  population  in  each  case 
was  small,  it  was  decided  that  the  four  churches  were 
not  needed  in  the  two  communities.  Accordingly  at 
Groton  the  Congregational  church  disbanded  and  joined 
the  Presbyterian,  while  at  Columbia  the  Presbyterian 
church  disbanded  and  joined  the  Congregational ;  which 
wras  no  loss  of  membership  to  either  denomination,  and 
was  a  positive  gain  in  Christian  influence,  an  economy 
of  ministerial  service,  and  a  considerable  saving  of 
money  to  both. 

Doubtless  there  would  be  some  who,  mistaking  denom- 
inational preference  for  Christian  principle,  would  con- 
scientiously refuse  to  unite  with  any  communion  except 
their  own.  Such  would  be  something  of  a  numerical 
loss,  but  ceasing  to  perpetuate  these  unworthy  divisions 
to  future  generations  in  the  community  would  compen- 
sate a  thousandfold. 

Such  a  committee,  in  addition  to  the  service  sug- 
gested, might  in  many  ways  facilitate  co-operation  be- 
tween denominations  so  as  to  reduce  friction,  economize 
force,  and  increase  results  in  the  extension  of  the  king- 
dom of  their  common  Lord. 

Let  us  attempt  now  to  apply  the  two  great  principles 
to- 
ll. The  problem  of  the  city.  We  have  seen  that  this 
problem  is  twofold  :  that  it  is  divided  into  the  problem 
of  municipal  government  and  that  of  city  evangeliza- 
tion. 

1.  Remedies  for  the  evil  of  municipal  misrule  are 
being  sought  in  various  quarters  through  a  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  form  of  city  government,  the  holding  of 
municipal  elections  at  a  different  period  of  the  year 
from  state  and  national  elections,  the  Australian  ballot, 
patent  ballot-boxes,  and  the  like.  Is  it  not  significant 
and  somewhat  startling  that  we  find  ourselves  relying 
on  mechanical  means  to  prevent  fraud  ?  Method  is 
important  in  government  as  it  is  in  business,  Christian 
work,  and  elsewhere,  but  it  cannot  be  made  a  substitute 


330  THE  A'EW  ERA. 

for  character.  Let  us  by  all  means  find  the  best  possi- 
ble form  of  city  government,  let  us  by  all  means  sepa- 
rate municipal  elections  from  all  others,  let  us  by  all 
means  have  the  Australian  ballot.  All  these  may  be 
efficient,  but  we  shall  not  find  them  sufficient.  We 
need  not  hope  to  save  the  city  by  any  we-touch-the- 
button-and-it-will-do-the-rest  arrangement.  Self-gov- 
ernment is  not  a  question  of  ingenuity.  Mechanism 
cannot  be  made  a  substitute  for  morals.  The  solution 
of  the  problem  of  municipal  government  must  be  found 
in  men— men  of  character,  men  of  intelligence.  The 
only  way  to  make  the  city  a  law  unto  itself  is  to  make 
the  citizen  a  law  unto  himself.  If  each  of  fifty  men  is 
individually  incapable  of  self-government,  or  if  most  of 
them  are,  then  the  fifty  formed  into  an  organization 
would  be  incapable  of  self-government.  And  this  is 
equally  true  of  fifty  thousand  or  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand. 

The  individual  must  be  made  capable  of  self-control ; 
this  is  the  only  remedy  which  is  radical.  And  here  we 
see  the  connection  between  municipal  reform  and  city 
evangelization.  That  reform  will  not  be  fully  accom- 
plished until  the  masses  have  been  brought  under  the 
influence  of  the  Gospel,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  can  the 
city  be  saved  morally  and  spiritually  under  a  govern- 
ment which  is  in  league  with  iniquity. 

Meanwhile  much  can  be  accomplished  for  the  regen- 
eration of  municipal  government  by  applying  the  two 
principles  of  individualism  or  independence  and  that  of 
co-operation  or  organization.  Either  without  the  other 
is  futile,  or  becomes  a  positive  evil.  There  is  no  lack  of 
organization  with  the  political  machine  of  either  great 
party ;  the  boss  is  always  an  organizer.  But  the  voters 
sacrifice  the  principle  of  individualism  to  that  of  or- 
ganization. The  ignorant  and  unamericamzed  voters, 
spoken  of  in  a  preceding  chapter,  can  be  bought  and 
sold  like  cattle,  and  delivered  in  "blocks"  of  almost 
any  required  size.  And  the  great  bulk  of  American 
voters,  who  are  more  culpable  because  more  intelligent, 


TWO  ORE  AT  PRINCIPLES.  331 

are  brought  into  line  by  the  party  whip.  They  have 
not  sufficient  independence  to  break  away  from  the 
bondage  of  party  politics,  which  is  the  bane  of  municipal 
elections. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  who  have  become  disgusted 
with  the  corruption  and  folly  of  politics  assert  their 
independence,  but  neglect  organization  and  absent  them- 
selves from  the  polls.  If  all  good  citizens  would  first 
declare  their  independence  of  party  politics  in  munici- 
pal elections,  and  then  organize  to  elect  the  men  best 
fitted  for  the  desired  service,  thus  applying  the  two 
principles  commended,  the  scandal  of  our  rabble-ruled 
cities  would  soon  cease. 

2.  We  saw  in  a  preceding  chapter  that  the  problem  of 
city  evangelization  was  complicated  by  the  mixed  com- 
position of  the  city,  the  environment  of  certain  classes, 
the  isolation  which  separates  localities,  classes,  and  in- 
dividuals, the  lack  of  homes,  and  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  city.  The  two  great  principles  which  have  been 
discussed  are  admirably  calculated  to  meet  the  needs 
which  arise  out  of  these  conditions. 

The  mixed  character  of  the  population  and  the  isola- 
tion, which  springs  from  it  and  from  other  causes,  call  for 
personal  contact  and  friendly,  Christian  intercourse. 
Such  intercourse,  by  winning  confidence,  would  do 
much  to  remove  the  suspicion,  prejudice,  dislike,  and 
even  hatred  which  are  now  common  between  different 
classes  and  races,  thus  opening  homes  and  hearts  to 
outside  influences.  It  would  do  much  to  assimilate  and 
Americanize  foreign  elements.  It  would  show  the  vic- 
tims of  the  city's  "crowded  loneliness"  that  somebody 
really  cares  for  them.  It  would  convince  multitudes 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  disinterestedness  in  the 
world.  Thus  this  little  thread  of  friendly  visitation, 
insignificant  as  it  may  seem,  running  back  and  forth 
between  the  many  fragments  of  society,  would  at  length 
suffice  to  stitch  it  into  something  like  a  whole. 

The  lack  of  homes  also  emphasizes  the  need  of  Chris- 
tian visitation.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  popula  • 


332  THE  NEW  ERA. 

tion  of  the  city,  and  especially  of  that  class  not  reached 
by  the  churches,  moves  every  year  or  oftener.  This  is 
one  reason  why  the  churches  fail  to  get  a  permanent 
hold  upon  them.  If  church  ties  begin  to  be  formed, 
they  are  soon  broken  by  removal.  If  this  class  were 
followed  up  by  friendly  visitors,  church  relations  might 
be  easily  re-established. 

Moreover,  of  the  great  army  which  every  year 
marches  up  from  country  to  city  a  very  large  propor- 
tion are  young  men  and  women,  who  by  the  change 
become  homeless.  Old  associations  are  uprooted.  Un- 
accustomed to  city  ways,  they  are  peculiarly  exposed  to 
temptation.  Many  yield,  and  help  to  swell  the  human 
wreckage  of  the  great  maelstrom.  What  a  blessed 
thing  it  would  be  if  the  churches  so  worked  their  fields 
in  the  country  that  when  John  or  Mary  goes  up  to  the 
city  to  live,  the  friendly  visitor  at  once  learned  it  and 
sent  word  to  the  Young  Men's  or  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  in  the  city,  or  better  yet  to  the 
churches  so  organized  that  they  could  quickly  find  the 
new-comers  and  be  the  first  to  put  an  arm  around  them ! 

The  environment  of  the  slums  constitutes  an  obstacle 
to  city  evangelization  the  removal  of  which  will  require 
co-operation  in  the  largest  sense. 

The  slums  are  the  "putrefying  sores"  of  the  city. 
They  may  be  mollified  with  the  ointment  of  missions 
and  altogether  closed  at  one  point,  but  it  will  be  only  to 
break  out  at  another  until  there  is  a  constitutional  treat- 
ment Avhich  shall  purge  the  poison  of  the  social  system. 
As  long  as  men  violate  the  divine  laws  for  the  indi- 
vidual and  for  society  there  will  be  slums,  for  they  are 
the  perfectly  natural  outcome  of  sin. 

Though  the  mission  brings  the  most  abandoned  men 
and  women  into  right  relations  to  God,  as  long  as  men 
sustain  wrong  relations  with  each  other — as  long  as 
society  is  based  on  the  existing  law  of  selfish  competi- 
tion instead  of  Christian  law  of  brotherly  love — there 
will  be  the  weak,  the  wretched,  and  the  vicious,  who 
will  gravitate  to  the  horrible  pit  called  the  slum. 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  333 

The  last  of  the  above-enumerated  factors  of  the  prob- 
lem of  city  evangelization,  viz.,  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  city,  obviously  demands  the  co-operation  of  the 
churches  to  prevent  overlapping  and  the  waste  of  re- 
sources, which  must  be  used  with  the  best  economy  if 
church  provision  is  to  overtake  the  growth  of  urban 
population. 

Thus  each  of  the  several  conditions  which  help  to 
complicate  the  problem  of  city  evangelization  calls  for 
the  application  of  one  or  both  of  the  two  principles  of 
co-operation  and  personal  contact,  the  necessity  and 
vahie  of  which  have  been  already  presented. 

As  soon  as  the  churches  perceive  and  accept  their 
social  mission,  they  will  lay  hold  of  these  two  principles 
as  absolutely  indispensable,  if  they  would  accomplish  it. 
When  they  really  undertake  to  save  the  city  thoroughly 
they  will  see  the  necessity  of  knowing  it  thoroughly. 
The  friendly  visitors  will  be  seen  to  be  the  needed  points 
of  contact  between  the  churches  and  the  multiform  life 
of  the  city.  They  will  serve  at  the  same  time  as  me- 
diums of  information  and  channels  of  influence.  They 
will  reveal  the  magnitude  of  the  needs  of  the  city, 
which  the  organized  strength  of  the  churches  alone  can 
supply. 

The  forms  of  organization  and  work  suggested  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter  would  seem  to  be  suited  to 
any  city.  If  the  city  is  large,  it  will  be  well  to  form  sep- 
arate branches  of  the  organization  in  the  several  wards. 

When  applying  these  two  principles  to  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  city,  we  must  remember  that  so  far  as  reli- 
gious work  is  concerned  every  considerable  city  is  two 
cities — what  we  call  the  residence  portion  and  the  busi- 
ness portion,  though  the  latter  is  perhaps  more  densely 
populated  than  the  former.  Conditions  differ  so  widely 
in  these  two  parts  of  the  city  that  they  must  be  recog- 
nized by  corresponding  adaptations  in  our  methods  of 
work. 

In. what  is  called  the  residence  portion  is  to  be  found 
most  of  the  American  element  of  the  population.  In 


334  THE  NEW  ERA. 

what  is  called  the  business  portion  the  population  is 
chiefly  foreign.  There  is  a  constant  drift  of  the  well- 
to-do  element  (which  is  generally  the  church-going 
element)  from  the  business  portion  of  the  city  to  the 
residence  portion.  This  makes  it  easy  to  plant  churches 
and  to  bring  them  to  self-support  in  the  latter,  unless 
conditions  favorable  to  church  growth  have  resulted  in 
overstocking  localities,  thus  producing  a  sharp  denomi- 
national competition.  Of  course  this  drift  of  church- 
going  people  away  from  the  business  portion  produces 
conditions  there  precisely  opposite  those  created  in  the 
residence  districts.  The  down-town  churches,  once 
strong,  are  depleted  until  they  die  or  follow  their  mem- 
bership up-town  or  become  missions  dependent  on  up- 
town churches.  The  pastor  of  a  down-town  church  in 
New  York  informs  me  that  in  a  district  including  four 
wards  he  has  seen  ten  churches  die,  three  remove,  two 
become  missions,  and  three  unite  with  other  churches. 
Thus  in  a  few  years  eighteen  churches  have  disappeared 
from  a  densely  populated  district. 

The  business  portion  of  the  city  with  its  tenement 
population  is  not  desired  by  the  churches,  and  comes  to 
be  known  as  the  field  of  the  City  Missionary  Society, 
where  one  exists. 

The  suggestions  made  above  in  regard  to  organization 
are  applicable  only  to  the  residence  portion  of  the  city, 
where  churches  are  numerous  and  strong.  The  problem 
of  city  evangelization  in  the  business  and  te'nement- 
house  districts  is  much  more  difficult,  and  requires  a 
different  solution,  which,  I  believe,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
methods  of  the  McAll  Mission  and  in  the  institutional 
church. 

The  popular  idea  of  city  evangelization  in  this  country 
has  been  to  hire  a  large  hall  or  build  a  tabernacle,  and 
employ  famous  evangelists  to  preach  to  thousands.  But 
the  work  is  temporary,  and  the  results  are  usually 
rather  disappointing.  And,  however  gratifying  the  re- 
sults may  be,  such  work  must  always  be  limited,  because 
the  number  of  great  evangelists  will  always  be  small. 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  335 

When  we  make  the  work  permanent  by  establishing 
a  mission,  we  plan  for  large  numbers.  We  say  that 
the  preacher  can  as  easily  speak  to  a  thousand  as  a 
hundred ;  and  accordingly  a  large  audience-room  makes 
the  first  cost  of  the  mission  heavy.  Then  we  must  have 
a  man  who  can  fill  the  room  and  keep  it  filled ;  and  any 
one  who  can  thus  sustain  himself  year  after  year  will 
probably  be  an  educated  man,  with  the  tastes  and  neces- 
sities of  an  educated  man,  which  means  that  he  must 
have  a  salary  of  two  thousand  or  twenty -five  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  There  must  be  a  number  of  helpers  to 
make  the  most  of  so  expensive  a  plant,  so  that  the  con- 
tinued cost  of  the  mission  is  heavy.  Manifestly  no  city 
will  support  more  than  a  few  such  missions. 

Some  eight  or  ten  years  ago  Professor  Curtiss  of 
Chicago  declared  that  a  hundred  missionaries  were 
needed  to  give  that  city  the  Gospel.  But  at  that  rate  of 
supply,  or  one  half  that  rate,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
find  the  educated  men  and  the  millions  of  money  which 
would  be  needed  to  evangelize  our  cities. 

With  the  present  or  any  prospective  supply  of  men 
and  means,  our  existing  methods  must  prove  inadequate. 
We  need  many  points  of  contact  with  the  churchless 
multitude  of  the  city,  and  the  able  men  who  are  capable 
of  conducting  great  mission  enterprises  cannot  be  suffi- 
ciently multiplied  to  meet  the  necessity.  Most  of  the 
world's  work  is  done,  and  must  always  be  done,  by 
ordinary  men;  and  this  is  as  true  of  Christian  work  as 
of  any  other.  The  best  methods,  then,  of  reaching  the 
multitude  must  be  those  with  which  ordinary  men  can 
succeed. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  note  several  important  par- 
ticulars in  which  the  methods  of  the  McAll  Mission  are 
in  contrast  with  those  commonly  used  in  American 
cities.  The  promoters  of  that  mission  aim  at  many 
small  meetings  rather  than  a  few  large  ones.  In  many 
of  their  missions  there  are  meetings  every  night,  and  in 
all  several  meetings  a  week.  Our  Gospel  meetings  are 
too  often  confined  to  the  Sabbath,  with  one  or  two  mid- 


336  THE  NEW  ERA. 

• 

week  prayer-meetings.  They  have  two  speakers,  who 
talk  fifteen  minutes  each;  we  have  one,  who  preaches 
thirty  minutes  or  more.  They  frequently  have  different 
speakers  every  night ;  we  commonly  think  that  a  change 
of  speakers  is  almost  as  bad  as  a  change  of  congrega- 
tions. By  admitting  a  change  of  speakers,  they  are 
enabled  to  make  use  of  a  vast  amount  of  volunteer 
service,  having  six  or  seven  stations  for  a  single  paid 
missionary.  Thus  they  can  conduct  a  hundred  missions 
at  a  total  expense  for  salaries  of  only  $18,000.  With  us 
a  hundred  city  missions  would  mean  more  than  one 
hundred  paid  missionaries,  at  an  expense  of  not  less 
than  $200,000.  Of  course  salaries  are  larger  here  than 
in  France,  but  that  is  only  an  added  reason  for  adopting 
cheaper  methods. 

If  the  methods  of  the  McAll  Mission  are  less  ex- 
pensive than  ours,  they  are  no  less  effective.  Indeed, 
I  do  not  know  where  to  look  in  this  country  for  mis- 
sions of  like  evangelistic  power.  Mr.  McAll  began  his 
work  in  the  worst  quarter  of  Paris,  where,  during  the 
reign  of  the  Commune,  only  a  few  weeks  before,  cart- 
loads of  priests  had  been  shot  down  like  dogs.  The 
police  repeatedly  warned  him  that  his  preaching  there 
might  cost  him  his  life.  But  this  quarter,  once  char- 
acterized by  lawlessness,  lewdness,  and  drunkenness, 
and  famous  for  desperate  men  and  furious  women,  has 
been  so  transformed  by  these  missions  that  it  is  now 
one  of  the  most  orderly  sections  of  the  city. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  same  Gospel,  applied  in 
the  same  way  to  meet  the  same  human  needs,  should 
not  produce  the  same  results  in  New  York,  or  Chicago, 
or  San  Francisco  as  in  Paris.  Of  course  conditions 
differ,  but,  excepting  the  higher  rents  and  salaries 
required  in  the  United  States,  conditions  seem  to  be 
more  favorable  here  than  there. 

There  is  one  embarrassment  to  which  mission  work 
in  halls  is  subjected,  and  which  the  McAll  Mission  has 
not  escaped,  viz.,  the  difficulty  with  which  converts  are 
induced  to  identify  themselves  with  some  church.  The 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  337 

best  remedy  will  be  found,  I  believe,  in  uniting  institu- 
tional methods  of  church  work  with  those  of  the  McAll 
Mission.  The  remarkable  success  of  the  so-called  in- 
stitutional churches  in  down-town  districts,  already 
cited,  is  sufficient  evidence  of  the  power  of  these 
methods  to  attract  the  masses. 

But  how  are  these  expensive  churches  to  be  provided  ? 
Here  is  an  opportunity  to  apply  the  principle  of  co- 
operation, both  between  different  denominations  and 
between  churches  of  the  same  denomination. 

Divide  the  business  and  tenement  portion  of  the  city 
into  districts,  each  as  large  as  could  be  properly  cared 
for  by  one  church.  Let  the  uptown  churches  build  in 
each  district  a  church  thoroughly  equipped  for  insti- 
tutional methods  of  work.  Such  churches  in  such  dis- 
tricts would  require  a  large  outlay.  Let  the  expense 
be  divided  between  three,  four,  half  a  dozen  churches — 
as  many  as  may  be  necessary — all  of  the  same  denomi- 
nation. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  that  several  Methodist  churches 
have  thus  accepted  a  certain  district  as  their  especial 
field.  The  pastors  can  say  to  their  people:  "Here  are 
so  many  thousand  souls  assigned  to  us.  If  we  do  not 
give  them  the  Gospel,  no  one  will.  Our  several 
churches  propose  to  plant  a  church  in  that  district; 
and  when  planted  it  will  be  a  Methodist  church.  Now, 
how  much  will  you  give  toward  it  ? "  When  a  definite 
amount  of  money  is  needed  to  do  a  specific  and  a  de- 
nominational work,  I  think  about  ten  times  as  much 
can  be  raised  as  could  be  secured  for  an  undenomina- 
tional city-missionary  society  needing  an  indefinitely 
large  amount. 

When  the  church  is  built,  these  several  churches 
having  a  special  interest  in  it  can  send  down  members 
enough  to  form  a  nucleus  for  the  new  organization. 

Around  this  institutional  church,  at  appropriate  dis- 
tances from  it  and  from  each  other,  let  there  be  opened 
mission  halls  on  the  Me  All  plan — as  many  as  the  district 
needs.  Each  one  of  these  halls,  being  operated  from 


338  THE  NEW  ERA. 

the  church  as  a  centre,  becomes  a  recruiting  station  for 
it.  Let  these  halls  be  on  the  ground-floor,  of  course, 
and  large  enough  to  accommodate  only  from  one  hun- 
dred to  two  hundred  people,  which  would  insure  a 
comparatively  low  rent.  If  there  are  only  five  or  six 
of  these  halls  in  a  district,  one  man,  the  pastor  or  a 
helper,  can  take  the  general  charge  of  them  all ;  and  he 
will  need  for  his  work  the  McAll  spirit  and  a  double 
portion  of  sanctified  common-sense. 

With  proper  supervision  most  of  the  work  may  be 
volunteer  service  and  unpaid.  Ministers  who  are 
adapted  to  such  work  (and  it  is 'a  pity  that  all  are  not) 
and  other  effective  speakers  are  asked:  "How  many 
evenings  can  you  give  us  this  month  ?"  A  schedule  is 
made,  in  which  each  hall  is  supplied  with  two  speakers 
each  evening.  As  the  work  progresses  a  large  amount 
of  lay  talent  will  be  developed,  much  of  it  in  the  class  of 
men  among  whom  the  work  is  done.  There  will  be  not 
a  few  plain  men  who  are  unable  to  speak  to  edification 
except  as  they  tell  the  story  of  their  conversion;  and 
this  they  may  be  able  to  do  very  effectively.  Such 
men,  judiciously  paired  with  others  who  can  instruct, 
may  be  used  at  a  dozen  different  halls  on  as  many 
different  nights.  In  the  course  of  time  there  would  be 
raised  up  from  among  the  people  men  with  special 
adaptations  for  such  work,  whose  whole  time  could  be 
secured  for  salaries  equal  to  the  wages  they  have 
received.  Such  men  could  do  the  gathering  far  better 
than  men  who  have  been  educated  away  from  the 
people,  and  who  must  be  paid  two  or  three  thousand 
dollars  a  year  for  not  reaching  them.  As  rapidly  as 
recruits  are  gained,  let  them  be  turned  over  for  drill  to 
the  church,  whose  pastor  is  a  trained  man  and  able  to 
build  them  up  in  the  most  holy  faith. 

After  this  manner  each  strong  denomination  in  our 
large  cities  might  take  several  such  districts,  con- 
tiguous or  otherwise,  and  make  adequate  provision  for 
them.  The  strongest  churches  would  each  be  able  to 
take  a  district.  Thus,  by  common  understanding  and 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  339 

co-operation  between  denominations  and  churches  of 
the  same  denomination,  the  neglected  parts  of  the  city 
might  all  be  cared  for. 

One  great  advantage  of  such  a  plan  would  be  the 
localizing  of  responsibility.  This  responsibility  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  city,  which  is  acknowledged  by 
all,  is  accepted  by  few  because  it  is  general.  Localize  it 
and  it  will  be  felt. 

But  it  is  asked,  "What  becomes  of  the  city-mission- 
ary society  on  this  plan  ?  I  would  treat  it  precisely  as 
if  it  were  a  denomination — give  it  as  large  a  section  of 
the  city,  as  many  districts  as  it  can  work  and  work 
thoroughly.  I  have  never  heard  of  a  city-missionary 
society  which  had  means  sufficient  to  do  one  half  the 
work  suffering  to  be  done. 

We  have  seen  how  the  principle  of  co-operation  may 
be  applied  to  advantage  in  the  evangelization  of  the 
business  and  tenement  portion  of  the  city.  House-to- 
house  visitation  is  no  less  important;  indeed,  it  is  more 
needed  in  this  quarter  of  the  city  than  in  the  other.  It 
would  do  much  to  relieve  the  isolation  of  the  many 
foreign  elements,  and  do  much  to  assimilate  and 
Americanize  them.  It  would  afford  the  only  effective 
remedy  for  pauperism  under  the  existing  social  system, 
and  would  exert  an  influence  on  all  social,  moral,  and 
industrial  reforms.  But  not  many  down-town  churches 
have  the  membership  from  which  to  draw  a  sufficient 
number  of  visitors  of  the  right  sort. 

Every  such  church  needs  a  number  of  consecrated 
and  trained  women  who  will  give  their  whole  time, 
some  to  visitation,  some  to  nursing  the  sick,  others  to 
kindergartening. 

Among  the  tenement-houses  there  are  swarms  of 
children  under  the  school  age  who  might  be  blessed  for 
life  by  a  Christian  kindergarten  training;  and  such 
training  diffuses  a  blessed  influence  through  the  homes 
from  which  the  children  come. 

There  is  always  need  of  the  ministry  of  healing, 
freely  rendered  tin  His  name  who  had  compassion  on 


340  THE  NEW  BRA. 

bodily  as  well  as  spiritual  suffering  and  need.  Every 
institutional  church  ought  to  have  its  corps  of  trained 
nurses  and  its  corps  of  trained  visitors  —call  them  dea- 
conesses, if  you  please — who  know  how  to  minister  to 
sick  bodies  and  sick  souls,  and  who  will  give  their 
service  freely  for  Christ's  sake  and  for  the  sake  of 
humanity. 

The  order  of  deaconesses  was  instituted  in  the  early 
Christian  church  and  continued  for  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  until  it  disappeared  in  the  Dark  Ages.  It  is 
occasion  for  rejoicing  that  the  order  or  office  has  been 
re-established  in  modern  times,  and  it  has  fully  demon- 
strated its  worth  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  The 
deaconess  is  given  a  home,  a  habit,  and  spending 
money,  but  not  a  salary.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there 
would  be  no  lack  of  noble  women  who  would  devote 
themselves  to  such  work  if  only  a  training-school  and  a 
home  were  opened  to  them. 

Why  should  there  not  be  in  every  considerable  city 
such  a  school  and  such  a  home  founded  and  sustained 
by  the  co-operation  of  the  various  denominations? 
There  is  no  sectarian  way  of  nursing  the  sick,  no 
sectarian  way  of  kindergartening,  no  sectarian  way  of 
lifting  families  up  out  of  pauperism  by  personal  influ- 
ence. Why  should  not  the  various  denominations 
unite  in  training  a  body  of  women  for  personal  Chris- 
tian ministration  ? 

Such  women,  manifesting  the  love  of  Christ  in  their 
self-devotion,  by  their  sympathy  and  helpfulness,  their 
tact  and  skill,  win  their  way  into  the  families  of 
Romanists,  of  Jews,  and  of  all  classes. 

Suroly  these  two  principles  of  personal  service  and  of 
co-operation,  if  applied  as  they  might  be  applied,  are 
equal  to  solving  the  difficult  problem  of  city  evangeliza- 
tion. 

Chalmers  applied  these  principles  to  work  in  the 
worst  section  of  Edinburgh,  and  with  what  result  the 
world  knows.  He  opened  his  mission  in  an  old  tan-loft, 
opposite  a  place  notorious  as  the  scene  of  fourteen 


TWO  GREAT  PRINCIPLES.  341 

murders.  The  whole  community  seemed  given  over 
to  idleness,  drunkenness,  lewdness,  and  crime.  The 
police  warned  him  that  his  life  and  the  lives  of  his 
visitors  were  in  danger.  But  in  five  years  he  had 
established  a  self-supporting  church,  an  industrial 
school,  a  washing-house,  and  a  savings-bank;  and  the 
people,  one  fourth  of  whom  were  on  the  poor  roll 
when  the  work  began,  now  contributed  £70  a  year  to 
benevolent  work  outside  their  own  community,  while 
the  police  declared  their  occupation  gone. 

When  Dr.  Guthrie  once  looked  down  on  one  of  the 
most  squalid,  abandoned,  and  wicked  quarters  of  the 
same  city,  he  exclaimed,  "  A  beautiful  field  ! "  Our 
great  cities  have  many  "beautiful  fields"  for  demon- 
strating the  saving  power  of  the  Gospel  of  God,  pro- 
vided only  that  it  is  faithfully  applied  according  to 
these  two  principles  which  he  has  implanted  in  man's 
constitution. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY. 

THIS  generation  is  gaining  what  Walter  Besant  calls 
the  sense  of  humanity.  The  family,  the  community, 
the  clan,  the  nation,  can  no  longer  live  wholly  unto 
itself.  The  oneness  of  the  race  is  being  forced  upon  us 
in  many  ways. 

We  saw  in  Chapter  VII  that  the  changes  in  methods 
of  production  and  distribution  are  leading  up  to  a  world- 
life.  This  means,  of  course,  that  the  interests  of  dif- 
ferent classes  and  of  different  nations  are  being  bound 
together  into  one  bundle.  In  the  "age  of  homespun" 
each  family  was  industrially,  though  not  socially,  a 
little  world  living  apart,  supplying  almost  all  of  its 
wants  by  its  own  industries,  and  needing  very  little 
money.  There  are  women  still  alive  in  this  country 
who  in  their  youth  could  take  the  wool  from  a  sheep's 
back,  card,  spin,  and  weave  it,  and  make  it  into  a  coat. 
When  most  people  built  their  own  houses,  produced 
their  own  food,  wove  their  own  clothes,  made  most  of 
their  own  tools,  utensils,  and  furniture,  it  made  no  dif- 
ference to  them  whether  the  fortunes  of  people  over  the 
mountains  or  beyond  the  sea  were  rising  or  falling. 
They  were  independent  ;  they  lived  a  separate  life. 

But  the  cheapening  of  manufacture  by  machinery  de- 
stroyed home  industries  ;  there,  was  a  division  of  labor, 
and  money  became  necessary  as  a  medium  of  exchang- 
ing the  products  of  labor.  The  farmer  must  now  not 
only  make  his  crops  feed  his  family,  but  clothe  and 
house  them  as  well.  That  is,  he  must  produce  for  the 
market.  His  world  is  no  longer  confined  to  his  farm ; 
he  is  now  interested  in  the  ability  of  other  men  to  buy 

343 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  343 

what  he  has  to  sell,  and  he  is  vitally  concerned  with  the 
crops  and  their  cost  beyond  the  mountains  and  over  the 
sea.  If  on  the  other  side  of  the  world  there  are  lands 
that  can  produce  wheat  much  cheaper  than  he  can  pro- 
duce it,  aud  the  product  of  five  acres  can  be  brought  to 
his  market  for  less  than  it  costs  him  to  fertilize  one 
acre,  it  becomes  an  economic  impossibility  for  him  to 
raise  wheat.  And  of  course  what  is  true  of  wheat  is 
equally  true  of  other  crops.  Thus  economic  con- 
ditions in  one  country  may  drive  people  from  their 
homes  in  another  country ;  and  this  is  actually  taking 
place. 

Says  Mr.  Wells  :  "  If  it  were  desirable  to  search  out 
and  determine  the  primary  responsibility  for  the  recent 
large  increase  in  the  number  of  the  English  unem- 
ployed, or  for  the  distress  and  revolt  of  the  Irish  ten- 
antry, or  the  growing  impoverishment  of  the  French 
and  German  peasant  proprietors,  it  will  be  found  that 
it  was  not  so  much  the  land  and  rent  policy  of  these 
different  countries  that  should  be  called  to  account, 
as  the  farmers  on  the  cheap  and  fertile  lands  of  the 
American  northwest  and  the  inventors  of  their -cost- 
reducing  agricultural  machinery,  of  the  steel  rail,  and 
of  the  compound  marine  engine."'  But  if  these  ad- 
vances in  our  agriculture  and  in  transportation  have 
wrought  hardship  for  English,  Irish,  French,  and  Ger- 
man peasants,  we  must  not  forget  that  by  cheapening 
food  they  have  conferred  a  blessing  on  well-nigh  the 
civilized  world.  Thus  both  producers  and  consumers 
in  Europe  are  made  to  feel  the  reality  and  closeness  of 
their  relations  to  us. 

Prices  are  now  based  on  the  whole  world's  supply. 
The  yield  of  wheat  in  Russia,  India,  Australasia,  and 
the  United  States  together  determine  the  price  of  every 
loaf  of  bread  in  London.  A  coal-miner's  strike  stops 
the  work  of  200,000  operatives  and  mechanics.  The 
passage  of  a  bill  by  our  Congress  throws  thousands  of 

1  Recent  Economic  Changes,  p.  878. 


344  THE  NEW  ERA. 

men  out  of  employment  in  a  single  European  city. 
Financial  distress  in  South  America  is  keenly  felt  in 
England  and  the  United  States.  American  workmen 
and  intelligent  Americanized  foreigners  have  been 
thrown  out  of  work  and  their  families  brought  to  the 
very  verge  of  starvation  because  degraded  immigrants 
whose  families  were  willing  to  live  in  one  room  and 
to  fish  their  bread  out  of  ash-barrels  had  underbid 
them  in  the  labor  market,  which  they  were  able  to  do 
because  of  their  few  wants.  Here  are  people  in  our 
midst  ruined  because  certain  other  people  whom  they 
have  never  seen  and  who  were  reared  on  the  other  side 
of  the  sea  are  ignorant  and  brutish. 

When  before  the  days  of  travel  peoples  were  isolated 
from  each  other,  one  city  or  nation  might  be  smitten 
with  pestilence  and  it  was  no  concern  of  another.  But 
in  this  day  of  travelling  millions,  of  crowded  steamships 
and  cars,  when  in  a  single  great  city  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands daily  use  the  same  public  conveyances,  the  possi- 
bility of  contracting  contagious  diseases  is  such  as  to 
make  us  interested  in  the  health  of  all  the  world.  The 
cholera  knocking  at  our  gates  reminds  us  forcibly  that 
we  are  intimately  concerned  with  the  moral  degrada- 
tion and  accompanying  physical  filth  of  peoples  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  globe.  The  unsanitary  condition 
of  some  tenement-house  may  cost  life  in  a  palace  many 
miles  away.  At  a  meeting  of  "  sweaters  "  in  London  it 
was  stated  that  a  suit  of  clothes  ordered  for  a  member 
of  the  royal  family  was  made  in  a  small  room  in  which 
there  were  two  cases  of  typhoid  fever.  Before  a  joint 
committee  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate the  "sweat-shop"  evil  in  Chicago,  Mrs.  Flor- 
ence Kelley  of  the  Hull  House  testified  that  she  had 
been  in  a  room  "where  four  people  were  working  on 
cloaks,  and  every  one  had  the  scarlet  fever."  To  find 
typhoid  fever  in  these  "sweat-shops"  was  a  "daily 
occurrence  "  in  her  experience.  The  head  of  the  Visit- 
ing Nurses'  Association  testified  that  she  had  "traced 
some  satin-lined  and  fur-trimmed  ladies'  cloaks  from  a 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  345 

hovel  infected  with  black  fever  to  the  best  class  of  re- 
tail stores." 

The  conditions  of  modern  civilization  are  bringing 
different  classes  and  nations  into  ever  closer  relations. 
Steam  and  electricity  are  making  the  whole  world  a 
neighborhood  and  every  man  a  neighbor ;  and"  as  people 
touch  at  an  increasing  number  of  points,  each  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  concerned  with  the  condition 
and  character  of  others.  God  in  his  providence  is  mak- 
ing human  relations  so  intimate  and  complex  that  they 
will  become  simply  intolerable  unless  they  are  right 
relations,  adjusted  in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Our  close  relations  with  the  ignorant, 
the  degraded,  the  vicious,  which  it  is  impossible  to 
escape,  are  forcing  us  to  do  them  good  in  self-defence. 
The  very  progress  of  civilization  will  yet  make  it  im- 
possible for  good  and  respectable  men  to  live  in  peace 
and  comfort  unless  other  men  also  are  good  and  respect- 
able and  comfortable;  and  may  God  hasten  the  day  ! 

But  further:  the  race  is  united  not  only  in  all  its 
nations  and  families,  but  also  in  its  succeeding  genera- 
tions. Each  generation  is  of  course  as  much  the  parent 
of  all  subsequent  generations  as  it  is  the  child  of  all 
preceding;  we  are  as  obviously  the  cause  of  what  fol- 
lows as  we  are  the  effect  of  what  has  gone  before.  The 
reason  that  we  are  civilized  and  the  inhabitants  of  Cen- 
tral Africa  savage  is  that  our  ancestors  were  civilized 
and  theirs  savage.  Surely  our  ancestors  did  more  for 
us  by  being  what  they  were  than  they  could  possibly 
have  done  for  savage  Africa  by  any  means.  And  if, 
long  before  we  were  born,  they  could  affect  our  lives  for 
good  or  ill  far  more  powerfully  than  they  could  the 
lives  of  their  contemporaries  on  the  other  side  of  the 
world,  then  they  were  far  more  responsible  for  us  than 
for  them.  In  like  manner  we  are  far  more  responsible 
for  the  character  of  our  descendants  a  dozen  genera- 
tions hence  than  we  can  possibly  be  for  our  heathen 
contemporaries. 

This  is  said  not  to  poultice  the   conscience  of  the 


346  THE  NEW  ERA. 

church  for  neglecting  the  heathen  world,  but  to  arouse 
a  sense  of  responsibility  to  the  race  for  its  future  gen- 
erations. 

Heredity  is  not  always  decisive  of  character,  but  we 
know  that  it  exerts  a  profound  influence.  The  case  of 
"Margaret,  the  Mother  of  Criminals"  and  her  descend- 
ants is  often  cited  in  illustration.  She  was  a.  pauper 
child,  born  about  a  hundred  years  ago  in  one  of  the 
villages  on  the  upper  Hudson.  ' '  In  one  generation  of 
her  unhappy  line  there  were  twenty  children,  of  whom 
seventeen  lived  to  maturity.  Nine  served  terms  aggre- 
gating fifty  years  in  the  State  prison  for  high  crimes, 
and  all  the  others  were  frequent  inmates  of  jails  and 
almshouses.  It  is  said  that  of  the  six  hundred  and 
twenty-three  descendants  of  this  outcast  girl  two  hun- 
dred committed  crimes  which  brought  them  upon  the 
court  records,  and  most  of  the  others  were  idiots, 
drunkards,  lunatics,  paupers,  or  prostitutes."  * 

Our  lives  strengthen  or  weaken  the  tendencies  which 
we  inherit;  and  doubtless  in  some  instances  we  may 
entirely  eradicate  them.  We  therefore  become  respon- 
sible for  the  strength  of  the  tendencies  which  we  trans- 
mit. And  so  far  as  we  influence  or  might  influence  the 
character  and  conduct  of  others,  we  become  in  measure 
responsible  for  the  tendencies  which  they  transmit. 

Thus  in  the  complex  and  intimate  relations  sustained 
between  nations,  communities,  and  classes,  and  in  the 
still  closer  relations  of  succeeding  generations,  appears 
the  oneness  of  the  race.  The  long  lines  of  ancestry 
which  run  back  through  the  ages  are  the  warp  in  the 
great  loom  of  time ;  while  the  steamship,  the  locomotive, 
and  the  telegraphic  message  are  the  swift  shuttles  flying 
back  and  forth  and  weaving  in  the  woof  of  commerce 
and  communication,  thus  drawing  close  the  countless 
individual  threads  into  one  vast  web  of  humanity. 

The  race  has  always  been  one  in  a  sense,  but  it  is 
now  becoming  one  in  a  new  sense,  recognized  by  hard- 

i  B.  V.  Smalley  i»  The  Century,  July,  1898. 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  347 

headed  business  men  as  in  no  respect  sentimental,  but 
thoroughly  practical.  Science  and  commerce  are  forc- 
ing men  to  accept  in  a  lower  sense  what  Christ  taught 
in  a  higher,  viz.,  the  neighborhood  and  brotherhood  of 
the  race.  Civilization  is  compelling  an  interest  in 
others  for  our  own  sakes.  Christ  inculcated  an  interest 
in  others  for  their  sakes.  Christian  brotherhood  springs 
from  something  higher  than  common  interests.  In  an 
ocean  steamship  the  steerage  and  the  cabin  passengers 
have  a  vast  deal  in  common  during  the  voyage.  If  the 
steerage  goes  to  the  bottom  so  does  the  cabin.  If  deadly 
pestilence  breaks  out  in  the  former,  the  latter  is  im- 
mensely concerned;  but  all  this  may  be  without  one 
brotherly  heart-beat  between  the  two.  Modern  civiliza- 
tion is  fast  getting  us  all  into  one  boat,  and  we  are  be- 
ginning to  learn  how  much  we  are  concerned  with  the 
concerns  of  others ;  but  the  higher  social  organization  of 
the  future  must  have  some  other  and  nobler  bond  than 
an  enlightened  selfishness — even  such  a  love  for  one's 
neighbor  as  will  fulfil  the  second  great  law  of  Christ. 

But  that  is  the  organic  law  of  a  normal  society,  and 
before  we  reach  such  a  social  condition  there  must  be 
done  a  vast  remedial  work.  If,  therefore,  the  church  is 
to  accomplish  her  social  mission  by  applying  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Gospel  to  the  saving  of  society,  her  love 
must  be  measured,  not  by  the  rule  of  justice — "as  thy- 
self,'" but  by  the  rule  of  sacrifice — "  as  I  have  loved  you." 
Such  love  is  remedial ;  and  such  a  love  widening  until 
its  arms  embrace  mankind  becomes  an  enthusiasm  for 
humanity. 

Let  us  at  this  point  pause  a  moment  to  gather  up 
results.  We  have  seen  that  man's  constitution  and  his- 
tory afford  a  presumption,  which  is  confirmed  by  Rev- 
elation and  science,  that  humanity  is  to  be  perfected, 
"body,  soul,  and  spirit."  We  have  seen  that  a  per 
fected  race  amid  perfected  conditions  would  constitute 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  fully  come  on  earth;  that  in 
preparation  for  the  inauguration  of  this  kingdom  God 
wrought  in  and  through  the  three  great  races  of  an- 


348  THE  NEW  ERA. 

tiquity;  that  Christ  came  to  inaugurate  it;  that  the 
authoritative  Teacher  laid  down  its  fundamental  laws ; 
and  that  Christ  founded  his  church  to  complete  the 
work  which  he  came  to  inaugurate. 

It  has  been  shown  that  we  have  come  upon  the  socio- 
logical age  of  the  world ;  that  we  shall  not  have  social 
peace  and  ought  not  to  have  it  until  we  have  social 
righteousness— until  right  relations  have  been  estab- 
lished between  man  and  man ;  that  a  higher  and  more 
complete  organization  of  society  would  be  in  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  historical  development  which  have 
been  pointed  out,  and  is  demanded  by  the  logic  of 
events;  that  the  great  movements  of  this  century  all 
seem  preparatory  to  still  greater  movements  in  the 
next ;  that  popular  discontent  is  significant  of  important 
changes  soon  to  take  place;  that,  in  short,  the  indica- 
tions seem  unmistakable  that  we  are  about  entering  on 
a  new  era  in  the  progress  of  the  race. 

We  have  also  seen  that  the  masses,  who  are  to  deter- 
mine the  future  of  civilization,  have  become  separated 
from  the  church ;  and  that  the  church  has  lost  her  hold 
on  them  because  she  has  not  accepted  her  social  mission 
— has  not  exemplified  or  inculcated  as  the  organic  law 
of  society  the  second  fundamental  law  of  Christ. 

We  have  seen,  further,  that  the  existing  methods  of 
the  church  are  inadequate ;  and  that  if  she  would  solve 
the  great  problems  of  the  times,  if  she  would  win  the 
masses  and  mould  the  civilization  of  the  new  era,  or,  in 
a  word,  if  she  would  fulfil  her  mission,  she  must  gain 
a  new  conception  of  it,  must  make  the  KINGDOM  the 
object  of  endeavor,  must  adapt  new  methods  to  new 
conditions,  and  enter  on  the  work  with  a  burning  enthu- 
siasm for  humanity. 

This  leads  to  the  inquiry,  How  is  such  an  enthusiasm 
to  be  kindled  and  sustained  ?  We  can  get  the  sacred 
fire  and  the  oil  to  feed  it  where  the  early  Christians  got 
them. 

Their  enthusiasm  for  humanity,  which  was  something 
quite  new  in  the  world,  was  kindled  in  part  by  the  new 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY  349 

estimate  of  human  nature  made  by  their  Master.  He 
put  a  new  valuation  on  every  human  being  :  "  What 
shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world, 
and  lose  his  own  soul  ?"  l  "A  man ;  "  that  is,  any  man ; 
the  meanest,  the  most  shrivelled  specimen  of  the  race 
is  beyond  price. 

We  honor  great  men  for  those  powers  or  deeds  which 
distinguish  them  above  their  fellows,  and  respect 
human  nature  because  of  the  possibilities  which  we  see 
realized  in  the  noblest  specimens  of  the  race.  But  the 
highest  honor  ever  paid  to  human  nature,  the  noblest 
estimate  ever  made  of  it,  was  in  the  fact  that  Jesus 
Christ  "tasted  death  for  every  man."  He  did  not  die 
for  Socrates  because  he  was  a  thinker,  but  because  he 
was  a  man.  He  did  not  die  for  Charlemagne  because 
he  was  a  mighty  ruler  or  warrior,  but  because  he  was  a 
man.  He  did  not  die  for  Shakespeare  because  he  was  a 
genius,  but  because  he  was  a  man.  Christ  offered  him- 
self for  these  men  not  because  of  those  qualities  which 
distinguished  them  above  their  fellows,  but  because  of 
those  qualities  which  they  possessed  in  common  with 
the  wayside  beggar. 

Twice  at  least  Christ  preached  to  an  audience  of  one 
— to  Nicodemus,  an  honored  member  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
and  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  a  despised  member  of  a 
despised  race ;  and  of  these  two  extremes  of  society  he 
honored  that  in  each  which  was  common  to  both. 

Again,  Christ  kindled  an  enthusiasm  for  humanity  by 
the  revelation  which  he  made  of  human  nature.  He 
showed  to  men  such  moral  strength  and  matchless 
beauty,  such  unsearchable  riches  of  love,  such  unmeas- 
ured sacrifice,  such  sublimity  of  purpose,  as  had  never 
been  ascribed  to  man  or  God.  To  eyes  that  could  see 
he  was  a  vision  of  human  nature  perfected.  And  when 
it  was  learned  that  the  vilest  could  become  partakers 
of  his  life  and  likeness,  then  his  followers  were  able  to 
love  and  venerate  the  possible  Christ  in  every  man. 

1  Mark  viii.  86. 


350  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Christ  taught  that  human  nature,  even  in  its  most 
debased  and  abandoned  estate,  was  savable.  And  this 
seems  to  have  been  an  entirely  new  truth  to  the  world. 
The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  tell  of  good  men  who 
sinned,  repented,  and  were  forgiven  ;  but  I  do  not  find 
in  them  the  story  of  a  single  vicious,  besotted,  bestial  , 
man's  being  transformed,  purified,  and  made  godlike. 
Turn  to  the  New  Testament,  and  what  a  revelation  of 
hope  !  Christ  received  into  his  kingdom  publicans  and 
magdalens,  and  delivered  them  from  the  power  of  sin. 
He  told  the  story  of  the  prodigal  who  had  sunk  into  the 
mire  of  vice  and  there  wallowed  with  the  vilest,  wrho 
yet  returned  to  himself  and  his  father's  house,  penitent 
and  purified.  And  from  that  hour  to  this  repenting 
prodigals  have  been  receiving  the  Father's  kiss  of  recon- 
ciliation. 

With  Christ  there  came  into  the  world  a  new  saving 
power;  and  hope  for  humanity  made  possible  an  enthu- 
siasm for  humanity.  To  have  seen  the  radiant  beauty 
of  Christ  and  then  to  see  in  the  vilest  the  possibility  of 
Christ's  likeness,  was  enough  to  make  love  and  hope 
flame  up  into  enthusiasm. 

Another  source  of  this  enthusiasm  which  so  character- 
ized the  early  Christians  was  their  love  for  their  Master. 
He  who  had  shown  such  beauty  and  sublimity  of  char- 
acter, and  especially  he  who  had  manifested  such  love 
for  them  and  wrought  for  them  such  salvation,  kindled 
a  passion  of  love  which  was  overmastering,  and  which 
embraced  not  only  their  Lord,  but  also  .the  humanity 
with  which  he  identified  himself. 

Furthermore,  he  revealed  the  brotherhood  of  the  race, 
and  made  every  member  of  it — Jew  and  Gentile,  Greek 
and  barbarian,  bond  and  free — eligible  to  citizenship  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Such  a  kingdom,  blest  with  right- 
eousness and  peace,  whose  fundamental  law  was  love 
and  whose  sway  was  to  be  universal,  might  well  kindle 
the  imagination  and  inspire  an  enthusiasm  whose  object 
of  devotion  could  not  be  less  broad  than  humanity  it- 
self. 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  351 

Now  observe  that  all  of  these  sources  of  enthusiasm 
save  one  may  be  said  to  have  been  opened  afresh  in 
modern  times.  Christ's  teachings  in  regard  to  the 
value  of  every  human  being  were  too  paradoxical  and 
profound  to  be  fully  understood  and  appreciated  by  the 
early  Christians.  Those  teachings  are  the  roots  of 
modern  and  Christian  individualism,  which  has  differ 
entiated  occidental  civilization  from  oriental.  They 
have  produced  modern  democracy,  whose  spirit  is  now 
almost  as  pervasive  as  modern  civilization;  and  with 
the  growth  of  democracy  in  this  age  has  come  such  an 
estimate  of  man  as  man,  such  a  valuation  of  the  com- 
mon man,  as  was  hardly  possible  in  any  other  age. 

Again,  the  most  scholarly  and  fruitful  thinking  of  the 
past  half -century  has  been  focalized  on  Christ  himself, 
and  has  resulted  in  what  might  be  called  a  restoration 
of  the  historical  Christ.  We  cannot  claim  for  this  gen- 
eration any  greater  love  or  loyalty  to  him  than  has  be- 
longed to  the  Christian  heart  of  every  age,  but  our 
clearer  vision  of  Christ  enables  us  to  see  more  distinctly 
and  to  appreciate  more  fully  the  exalted  possibilities  of 
human  nature  which  he  revealed. 

Again,  the  church  seemed  almost  in  danger  of  forget- 
ting that  human  nature  was  savable  and  that  the  Gospel 
was  remedial.  As  the  masses  drifted  away  from  the 
influence  of  the  church  the  impression  became  common 
that,  with  here  and  there  a  rare  exception,  the  case  of 
the  vicious  and  criminal  classes  was  desperate,  and  that 
the  most  the  church  could  do  was  to  save  the  children 
before  they  had  gone  hopelessly  astray.  And  with  few 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  worst  classes,  there  were  few 
instances  of  wonderful  transformation  to  correct  this 
growing  impression,  until  the  Salvation  Army  appeared 
to  convict  the  church  of  unbelief  and  demonstrate  once 
more  that  the  Gospel  is  indeed  the  power  of  God  unto 
the  salvation  of  the  most  depraved  and  desperate. 
Probably  during  no  hundred  years  in  the  history  of  the 
\vm-M  have  there  been  saved  so  many  thieves,  gamblers, 
drunkards,  and  prostitutes  as  during  the  past  quarter 


352  THE  NEW  ERA. 

of  a  century  through  the  heroic  faith  and  labors  of  the 
Salvation  Army. 

It  was  remarked  above  that  Christ's  preaching  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  organized  on  the  earth,  was  a 
powerful  stimulus  to  the  enthusiasm  for  humanity. 
For  many  centuries  the  church  has  lost  the  meaning  of 
Christ's  teaching  concerning  the  Kingdom,  but  it  is  now 
being  restored  by  the  return,  in  recent  years,  to  Christ 
and  his  words.  And  these  teachings  concerning  the 
kingdom  of  God  may  well  come  to  this  generation  with 
all  the  power  of  a  new  gospel,  for,  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  modern  science  and  civilization,  their  meaning 
is  made  vastly  richer  and  more  comprehensive  than 
they  could  possibly  be  to  the  early  Christians.  Science 
has  revealed  to  us  ten  thousand  laws  of  the  Kingdom  of 
which  they  knew  nothing. 

We  have  learned  that  the  physical,  intellectual,  and 
spiritual  are  so  wonderfully  interlaced  in  man  that 
society  cannot  be  fully  saved  in  any  one  of  the  three 
until  it  is  saved  in  all.  So  that  as  citizens  of  the  King- 
dom we  are  concerned  with  all  the  conditions  of  life 
which  affect  the  physical  and  the  intellectual  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  life  of  man. 

In  like  manner,  in  the  world-life  which  is  being  organ- 
ized, different  classes,  nations,  and  races  are  becoming 
so  dependent  on  each  other  that  it  will  be  impossible 
to  perfect  in  character  or  condition  any  one  class 
or  people  until  all  are  perfected.  So  that  as  citizens 
of  the  Kingdom  we  are  bound  to  be  interested  in  man- 
kind. 

We  learn  from  the  solidarity  of  the  race  that  service 
to  one  is  service  to  many.  This  view  of  the  race  as  a 
whole,  together  with  confidence  in  its  ultimate  perfec- 
tion, greatly  strengthens  the  motives  to  service.  Iso- 
lated need  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  enlist  our  endeavors ; 
but  to  the  belief  that  we  are  helping  the  individual  add 
the  assurance  that  in  blessing  him  we  are  blessing 
unborn  generations,  making  some  contribution,  how- 
ever small,  to  the  perfecting  of  the  race,  hastening 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  353 

forward,  however  little,  that  glorious  consummation, 
and  our  heart  is  enlarged  with  a  greater  hope  and  fuller 
joy,  is  fortified  with  a  more  persistent  patience,  is  in 
spired  with  a  more  ardent  enthusiasm. 

Moreover,  there  is  inspiration  in  the  knowledge  that 
we  belong  to  a  far-reaching  organization.  A  great 
engine  refused  to  do  its  work,  the  machinery  of  a  fac- 
tory was  still,  and  all  the  operatives  were  idle  for  hours 
because  a  little  pin  less  than  an  inch  long  had  dropped 
unobserved  from  its  place.  Taken  by  itself,  that  pin 
was  of  the  smallest  consequence ;  but  as  a  part  of  a  great 
mechanism,  it  was  found  that  the  work  of  the  whole 
factory  depended  on  it.  Our  lives  may  seem  very  in- 
significant, but  when  we  remember  that  because  we 
belong  to  the  Kingdom  they  are  part  of  a  vast  plan, 
they  at  once  assume  importance;  we  cannot  tell  how 
far  their  influence  may  extend  or  how  great  may  be 
the  issues  which  depend  on  them. 

And  direct  influence  as  well  as  indirect  is  immensely 
augmented  by  organization  and  facilities  for  communi- 
cation. Had  Paul  lived  in  this  day,  he  might  have 
impressed  a  thousand  minds  for  every  one  that  he  in- 
fluenced during  his  lifetime.  Unprecedented  oppor- 
tunities to  aid  our  fellow-men  ought  to  inspire  unprece- 
dented zeal;  and  beyond  peradventure  this  generation 
enjoys  such  opportunities.  We  have  seen  the  signifi- 
cance of  popular  discontent;  we  are  evidently  in  a 
transition  state;  our  social  institutions  are  in  flux;  in 
due  time  they  will  recrystallize.  This  is  such  an  oppor- 
tunity to  give  them  Christian  form  as  may  not  come 
again  for  ages. 

Surely  with  the  highest  estimate  of  the  worth  of 
human  nature  which  the  world  has  ever  known,  with 
the  noblest  conception  of  its  possibilities,  the  clearest 
demonstration  that  there  is  no  utterly  hopeless  degrada- 
tion, with  a  growing  sense  of  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
and  a  restored  vision  of  the  coming  Kingdom,  and  with 
such  opportunities  and  facilities  for  blessing  mankind 
as  were  never  before  offered,  this  generation  of  Chris- 


354  THE  NSW  ERA. 

tians  ought  to  glow  with  enthusiasm  for  humanity  as 
no  other  has  ever  done. 

And  if  this  is  true  in  general,  it  is  thrice  true  of 
Anglo-Saxons.  We  have  seen  that  for  the  coming  of 
Him  who  should  inaugurate  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  earth,  three  great  races  wrought  until  the  necessary 
spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical  conditions  were 
made  ready.  We  have  seen  that  these  three  spheres  all 
belong  to  that  kingdom;  that  it  cannot  fully  prevail 
until  men  are  brought  into  glad  obedience  to  the  har- 
monious laws  of  these  three  spheres.  And  we  have  seen 
that  those  characteristics,  which  enabled  these  three 
races  to  fulfil  their  mission  of  preparation,  all  unite  in 
the  one  Anglo-Saxon  race,  indicating  that  this  race  is 
pre-eminently  fitted,  and  therefore  chosen  of  God,  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  full  coming  of  his  kingdom  in 
the  earth. 

We  have  also  seen  that  America  is  ultimately  to  be 
the  seat  of  the  Anglo-Saxon's  power,  the  centre  of  his 
influence.  Surely,  to  be  a  Christian  and  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  an  American  in  this  generation  is  to  stand 
on  the  very  mountain-top  of  privilege.  We  are,  it 
seems  to  me,  even  more  favored  than  those  who  are  to 
follow  us.  Some  one  has  said  that  he  would  rather  be 
his  own  grandson  than  his  own  grandfather;  and  so 
would  I :  but  I  would  rather  be  myself  than  my  latest 
descendant,  because  I  would  rather  have  part  in  the 
glorious  work  of  creating  the  Christian  civilization  of 
the  future  than  to  bask  in  the  full  radiance  of  its  glory. 

Yes,  this  generation  in  America  ought  to  exult  in  its 
transcendent  opportunities  for  service.  But  it  is  possi- 
ble to  see  these  opportunities  and  yet  feel  no  thrill  of 
new  life  unless  there  is  added  the  quickening  touch  of 
the  divine  Spirit.  These  great  truths  which  have  been 
pointed  out  are  the  fuel.  If  it  is  to  be  kindled  into 
a  blessed  conflagration  of  Christian  enthusiasm,  the 
heavenly  spark  must  fall.  Let  us  gain  a  profound  con- 
viction of  the  worth  of  every  human  being,  a  profound 
conviction  of  human  need,  a  profound  conviction  of  the 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  355 

saving  power  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  truth,  and  surely 
we  shall  not  wait  in  vain  for  the  cloven  tongue  of  Pen- 
tecostal flame.  And  then  there  will  be  a  new  enthu- 
siasm for  humanity,  for  enthusiasm  is  conviction  on 
fire. 

Such  an  enthusiasm  unites  the  three  Christian  graces, 
faith,  hope,  and  love — a  mighty  faith  in  God,  a  glorious 
hope  for  humanity,  a  burning  love  for  both.  It  is  there- 
fore no  mere  gust  of  feeling,  but  is  as  constant  and  as 
permanent  as  its  elements,  of  which  Paul  says':  "Now 
abideth  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  these  three."  This  is  a 
threefold  cord  that  cannot  be  broken  even  by  a  strain 
that  snaps  life  itself.  It  has  held  the  great  heroes  of 
humanity  to  their  beloved  toil  till  death.  After  three 
years  of  lonely  labor  in  Burmah,  unencouraged  by  even 
a  single  interested  listener,  Judson  wrote:  "If  any  ask 
what  prospect  there  is  of  ultimate  success,  tell  them,  as 
much  as  that  there  is  an  almighty  and  faithful  God.  If 
a  ship  were  lying  in  the  river,  ready  to  convey  me  to 
any  part  of  the  world  I  should  choose,  and  that  too  with 
the  entire  approbation  of  all  my  Christian  friends,  I 
would  prefer  dying  to  embarking."  And  again  after 
five  years  he  wrote:  "  I  know  not  that  I  shall  ever  live 
to  see  a  single  convert ;  but  notwithstanding,  I  feel  that 
I  would  not  leave  my  present  situation  to  be  made  a 
king."  If  such  an  enthusiasm  were  common  in  the 
Christian  church,  how  speedily  would  its  fire  enlighten 
the  night  of  heathendom  ! 

Should  such  an  enthusiasm  take  possession  of  the 
church  in  America,  how  soon  would  she  stretch  forth 
hands  of  benediction  over  Africa  and  China  !  These  are 
the  two  great  strongholds  of  heathenism  remaining,  for 
India  is  already  honeycombed  with  Christian  influence; 
and  to  the  500,000,000,  inhabitants  of  China  and  Africa 
we  in  the  United  States  sustain  exceptional  relations 
of  opportunity  and  obligation.  The  greater  part  of 
the  work  of  evangelizing  these  many  millions  must 

» 1  Cor.  xiil.  18. 


356  THE  NEW  ERA. 

be  done  for  Africa  by  negroes  and  for  China  by  China- 
men. Men  of  the  same  race  can  better  endure  the 
climate  and  can  more  easily  establish  close  relations 
than  men  of  foreign  blood.  The  providential  signifi- 
cance of  thousands  of  Chinese  and  millions  of  negroes 
in  our  midst  is  obvious.  If  we  had  a  Christian  enthusi- 
asm for  mankind,  we  should  be  preparing  them  by  the 
thousand  to  go  as  missionaries  to  their  brethren.  But 
instead  we  are  debauching  Africa  with  our  New  Eng- 
land rum,  and  outraging  China  by  our  brutal  legisla- 
tion. 

An  enthusiasm  for  humanity  is  needed  to  transform 
the  church;  and  thus  transformed,  the  church  would 
soon  transform  the  world.  Such  an  enthusiasm  would 
speedily  make  active  the  latent  power  of  the  church. 
The  conventional  Christianity  of  the  day  has  never 
dreamed  of  the  spiritual  power  asleep  in  pulpit  and  pew. 
Says  the  author  of  Ecce  Homo:  "It  is  not  possible  to 
set  bound  to  the  restoring  and  converting  power  of  vir- 
tue, when,  as  it  were,  it  takes  fire,  when,  instead  of  a 
rule  teaching  a  man  tc  do  justice  to  his  neighbors,  and 
to  benefit  them  when  an  occasion  presents  itself,  it  be- 
comes a  burning  and  consuming  passion  of  benevolence, 
an  energy  of  self-devotion,  an  aggressive  ardor  of 
love." '  How  would  such  an  enthusiasm  vitalize  our 
preaching !  I  think  it  was  David  Garrick  who  said : 
"We  actors  present  fiction  as  if  it  were  truth,  while  you 
preachers  present  truth  as  if  it  were  fiction."  Such  act- 
ing has  more  power  than  such  preaching.  Moreover, 
a  Christian  enthusiasm,  by  impelling  men  to  personal 
Christian  work,  would  make  preachers  of  the  laity.  As 
long  as  the  laity  hire  the  minister  to  love  men  in  their 
stead,  the  church  will  make  only  the  present  slow  rate 
of  progress. 

Whether  that  progress  seems  to  us  great  or  small, 
occasion  for  joy  or  shame,  will  depend  on  our  standard 
of  comparison.  As  compared  with  nothing  at  all,  the 

'  Page  274. 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  35? 

work  is  gloriously  great  and  unspeakably  precious.  As 
compared  with  what  it  might  be  and,  therefore,  ought 
to  be — as  compared  with  Christ's  standard,  its  progress 
is  painfully  and  disgracefully  slow.  We  have  seen  tha^ 
taking  80,000  churches  together,  their  annual  additions 
on  confession  of  faith  are  only  five  per  cent  of  their 
membership.  Instead  of  an  increase  ot  thirty  or  sixty 
or  even  a  hundred  fold,  of  which  the  Master  talked, 
these  churches,  if  they  had  the  same  number  of  addi- 
tions every  year — even  though  they  suffered  no  losses 
by  death — would  require  twenty  years  to  make  an  in- 
crease of  one  fold,  six  hundred  years  to  gain  thirty  fold, 
twelve  hundred  to  gain  sixty  fold,  and  two  thousand 
years  to  gain  a  hundred  fold  ! 

We  have  seen  that,  averaging  four  and  a  half  million 
church-members,  it  takes  twenty  of  them  twelve  months 
to  win  a  single  convert.  And  these  twenty  church- 
members  have  all  professed  to  give  themselves,  body 
and  soul,  time  and  substance,  to  God  and  his  service. 
What  if  twenty  politicians  pledged  themselves  for  a 
year  to  the  service  of  a  political  favorite  ?  The  great 
object  of  these  men  every  day  in  the  year  and  every 
hour  of  the  day  is  to  win  adherents  to  their  candidate. 
To  this  end  they  have  consecrated  not  only  their  time 
and  energies,  but  their  money  also.  After  a  twelve- 
month they  meet  to  sum  up  results,  and  find  that  in  one 
year  they  have  together  made  one  proselyte !  What 
occasion  for  mutual  congratulation  !  Would  not  one 
spark  of  enthusiasm  make  such  a  result  impossible  ? 

When  we  look  at  the  black  cloud  which  envelopes 
800,000,000  heathen,  and  think  of  the  heathenism  which 
still  clings  to  Christendom,  we  are  oppressed,  perhaps 
appalled,  and  cry :  "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ? " 
The  church  of  Christ  is  fully  sufficient  if  aroused,  if 
her  latent  power  is  made  active.  Look  at  the  begin- 
ning o.f  the  Christian  era  when  Roman  society  was  one 
mighty  ulcer  before  God — a  stench  unto  heaven.  The 
foundations  and  framework  of  civilization  were  heathen. 
Ideas,  habits,  customs,  laws,  all  were  heathen.  There 


358  THE  NEW  ERA. 

was  no  mass  of  Christian  literature  with  which  the 
world  has  since  been  enriched.  The  New  Testament 
had  not  taken  form.  Except  for  the  favored  few  the 
Old  Testament  did  not  exist.  There  were  no  Christian 
institutions,  no  Christian  laws,  no  Christian  atmos- 
phere, which  modifies  where  it  cannot  transform.  And 
there  was  sent  out  to  face  this  heathen  world  a  little 
band  whose  equipment  was  an  enthusiastic  love  for  God 
and  men,  together  with  the  good  news  which  had  kin- 
dled their  enthusiasm.  Yet  look  at  results.  Into  this 
mass  of  heathenism  the  salt  of  Christian  truth  was  cast, 
and  that  rotting  civilization  was  penetrated  with  Chris- 
tian influence,  its  corruption  arrested,  its  heathenism 
destroyed. 

We,  with  a  Bible  for  every  home,  with  our  Christian 
press,  our  Christian  literature,  our  Christian  schools  and 
millions  of  Christian  hearts,  are  ten  thousand  times 
more  equal  to  our  work  than  were  they  to  theirs,  pro- 
vided only  we  have  a  like  Christian  enthusiasm,  making 
the  latent  power  of  the  church  active. 

An  enthusiasm  for  humanity  would  lead  the  church 
to  see  and  to  accept  her  social  mission.  The  conception 
of  the  church  is  common,  and  I  believe  general,  which 
deems  it  a  spiritual  transfer  company  whose  business 
it  is  to  receive  souls  on  earth  and  to  deliver  them  in 
good  condition  in  heaven.  But  an  enthusiasm  for  hu- 
manity means  far  more  than  a  strong  desire  to  save  as 
many  individual  souls  as  possible.  It  means  also  a 
longing  for  the  uplifting  and  perfecting  of  humanity  as 
a  whole,  for  the  saving  of  society,  for  the  sanctifying  of 
all  human  institutions  and  the  sweetening  of  all  human 
relations.  Such  an  enthusiasm  would  give  to  the 
church  a  profound  interest  in  all  the  conditions  of  life 
which  affect  the  upward  or  downward  tendencies  of 
races,  all  that  works  the  improvement  or  deterioration 
of  the  human  stock.  Many  good  men  are  as  little  con- 
cerned for  future  generations  as  was  Sir  Boyle*  Roche 
when  he  asked  the  Irish  Parliament:  "  Why  should  we 
put  ourselves  out  of  the  way  for  posterity  ?  What  has 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  359 

posterity  done  for  us?"  But  he  who  is  inspired  with 
the  enthusiasm  for  humanity  is  as  ready  to  toil  and  to 
sacrifice  for  generations  far  removed*  in  time  as>  for 
nations  far  removed  in  space.  The  Kingdom  extends 
not  only  outward  to  other  lands,  but  also  onward  to 
other  ages.  Would  that  the  millions  who  daily  pray 
"Thy  kingdom  come  "  might  fill  this  vast  petition  with 
a  mighty  longing  for  the  perfecting  of  humanity,  of 
which  our  Lord's  prayer  is  a  prophecy, — a  longing  so 
genuine  as  to  lead  forth  effort.  For  as  John  Ruskin 
says :  "If  you  do  not  wish  for  His  Kingdom,  don't  pray 
for  it ;  but  if  you  do,  you  must  do  more  than  pray  for 
it;  you  must  work  for  it."  An  enthusiasm  for  hu- 
manity would  lead  the  church  to  work  for  the  full 
coming  on  earth  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  which 
would  be  the  acceptance  of  her  social  mission  by  the 
church. 

And  this  would  bridge  the  chasm  between  the  church 
and  the  masses,  for,  as  we  saw  in  a  preceding  chapter, 
the  refusal  of  the  church  to  accept  her  social  mission 
has  been  the  chief  cause  of  their  alienation. 

The  enthusiasm  for  humanity  also  bridges  the  social 
chasm  for  all  who  feel  its  thrill.  When  the  heart  has 
become  hot  with  the  God-enkindled  fire  of  love  it  re- 
fuses to  regard  any  class,  however  ignorant  or  de- 
graded, as  human  rubbish.  It  looks  down  on  no  being 
for  whom  Christ  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  die.  The 
essential  dignity  of  human  nature  belittles  the  artificial 
distinctions  of  social  rank.  Caste  can  no  more  survive 
the  awakening  of  the  spirit  of  universal  brotherhood 
than  night  can  outlive  sunrise.  Any  one  who  feels  the 
enthusiasm  for  humanity  recognizes  the  possibilities  of 
humanity,  and  with  Charles  Kingsley  longs  and  labors 
for  "the  time  when  the  ordinary  man  can  be  a  saint,  a 
scholar,  and  a  gentleman."  He  who  sorrows  over  men's 
ignorance  and  sin  and  wretchedness,  and  longs  to  lift 
them  out,  finds  no  social  barriers  obstructing  his  way  to 
the  slums.  An  enthusiasm  for  humanity  inspires  not  a 
few  men  and  women  in  London,  Bristol,  Liverpool, 


360  THE  NEW  ERA. 

Edinburgh,  and  Glasgow  to  give  up  their  whole  time, 
strength,  and  fortunes  to  working  among  the  poor  and 
outcast.  "  There  is  a  merchant  in  Glasgow  who  refuses 
a  seat  in  Parliament,  lest  it  imperil  his  work  among  the 
Glasgow  poor.  London  can  show  earls,  lords,  gentle- 
men, ladies  by  the  score,  who  have  no  other  business 
but  seeking  to  save  the  lost.  There  are  wealthy  mem- 
bers of  the  aristocracy  who,  with  their  wives  and 
daughters,  go  habitually  into  the  low  abodes  of  poverty 
and  misery,  and  who  conduct  missions  of  every  con- 
ceivable kind."  '  And  there  are  high-born  women  who 
for  the  love  they  bear  to  Christ  and  humanity  have 
made  their  homes  in  the  vermin-infested  tenements  of 
the  slums. 

The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  was  once  talking  to  Frances 
Power  Cobbe  of  the  wrongs  of  young  girls.  The  tears 
came  to  his  eyes,  his  voice  trembled,  and  after  a  pause 
he  added:  "When  I  feel  how  old  I  am,  and  know  I 
must  soon  die,  I  hope  it  is  not  wrong,  but  I  feel  I  cannot 
bear  to  go  and  leave  the  world  with  all  the  misery  in 
it."  Shaftesbury's  enthusiasm  for  humanity  made  it 
painful  for  him  to  be  separated  from  the  wretched  so 
long  as  he  had  any  power  to  relieve  their  misery. 

Again,  such  an  enthusiasm  would  overcome  difficulties 
and  successfully  apply  the  two  great  principles  which 
have  been  discussed.  Undoubtedly  their  application 
presents  difficulties ;  but  pretty  much  everything  that  is 
worth  doing  does.  Discovery  and  invention  and  science 
and  art  and  Christianity  have  not  advanced  thus  far 
toward  the  conquest  of  the  world  because  they  met  with 
no  difficulties.  Difficulties  have  been  yielding  to  enthu- 
siasm ever  since  the  world  began.  For  a  long  time  Mr. 
Edison's  phonograph  refused  to  say  the  word  "  specia." 
It  would  drop  the  s  and  say  "  pecia."  And  Mr.  Edison 
says  he  worked  from  eighteen  to  twenty  hours  a  day 
for  seven  months  to  secure  that  single  sound,  until  he 
succeeded.  The  material  which  he  originally  used  for 

1  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson,  The  Missionary  Review,  Nov.,  1889. 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  361 

his  cylinders  did  not  prove  satisfactory.  He  wanted 
something  delicate  enough  to  receive  impressions  not 
more  than  a  millionth  part  of  an  inch  in  depth,  and  yet 
rigid  enough  to  carry  the  needle  up  and  down,  exactly 
reproducing  the  vibrations  which  had  made  the  impres- 
sions. Scientists  told  him  there  was  no  such  substance 
in  existence.  "Then  we  must  produce  it,"  was  the 
reply.  They  insisted  that  it  could  not  be  done,  because 
the  qualities  which  he  demanded  were  inconsistent  and 
exclusive  of  each  other.  This  modern  Aladdin  declared 
that  it  could  be  done  because  it  must  be  done,  and  he  did 
it.  Enthusiasm  is  always  accomplishing  "the  impossi- 
ble." It  was  Paul's  enthusiasm  which  declared  that 
with  Christ  strengthening  him  he  could  do  anything. 
This  spirit  of  enthusiastic  determination,  of  sanctified 
wilfulness,  is  as  effective  -in  Christian  work  as  else- 
where. I  knew  a  city  missionary  in  New  York  who 
was  determined  to  reclaim  a  certain  family.  They  sud- 
denly disappeared.  He  followed  every  possible  clue 
until  he  found  them.  They  moved  again  and  again,  ten 
times ;  and  ten  times  he  hunted  them  up  until  at  length 
he  won  the  success  for  which  he  had  labored. 

The  great  wrongs  of  the  world  persist  because  human 
appetite  and  passion  are  enlisted  in  their  behalf.  They 
are  opposed  by  the  spirit  of  benevolence.  As  long  as 
appetite  and  passion  are  stronger  in  Avicked  men  than 
benevolence  in  good  men,  these  wrongs  will  continue. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  arousing  Christians  to  an  enthu- 
siasm for  humanity  if  we  are  to  overcome  the  difficul- 
ties which  beset  Christian  effort.  When  the  average 
Christian  is  inspired  with  an  enthusiasm  which  is  more 
watchful,  more  persistent,  more  eager  in  doing  men 
good  than  is  selfishness  in  doing  them  evil,  then  the  full 
coming  of  the  Kingdom  will  not  long  tarry. 

Again,  an  enthusiasm  for  humanity  would  make  the 
discovery,  which  so  many  need  to  make,  that  consecra- 
tion to  God  means  service  to  man.  Thousands  have 
thought  to  serve  God  by  withdrawing  themselves  from 
the  world  and  by  living  as  nearly  as  possible  out  of  all 


362  THE  NEW  ERA. 

relations  with  their  fellows.  As  Dr.  James  H.  Ecob 
puts  it:  "The  notion  has  prevailed  that  to  become  a 
truly  spiritual  man  is  to  sign  a  quit-claim  to  this  world 
and  take  a  mortgage  on  the  next."  But  God  has  im- 
mense interest  in  this  world,  and  an  immense  work  to 
do  here,  and  as  an  old  proverb  says:  "  God  loves  to  be 
helped."  The  best  way  to  serve  him  that  I  know  of  is 
to  help  him  do  his  work ;  that  is,  to  help  him  perfect 
humanity,  and  thus  to  hasten  the  coming  of  his  king- 
dom. Christ,  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day,  would 
still  seek  the  lost,  but  he  must  now  do  it  on  our  feet. 
He  would  still  minister,  but  he  must  do  it  with  our 
hands.  He  would  still  warn  and  comfort  and  encourage 
and  instruct,  but  he  must  do  it  with  our  lips.  If  we  re- 
fuse to  perform  these  offices  for  him,  what  right  have 
we  to  call  ourselves  members  of  his  body,  in  vital  union 
with  him  ? 

"  'Why,  God,'  thought  Marian,"  has  a  missing  hand 
This  moment;  Lucy  wants  a  drink,  perhaps. 
Let  others  miss  me!  never  miss  me,  God! '  "  * 

Moreover,  Christ  teaches  that  the  needs  of  men  are 
his  needs,  that  he  is  in  the  world  hungry,  naked,  sick, 
in  prison.  If  we  wish  to  serve  him,  how  can  we  do  it 
better  than  in  the  person  of  those  with  whom  he  identi- 
fies himself  ? 2  Self -giving  is  the  law  of  Christian  living ; 
but  self-sacrifice  for  its  own  sake  is  not  good,  and  is  no 
more  pleasing  to  God  than  to  human  nature.  To  teach 
that  God  requires  it  or  is  pleased  by  it  is  to  caricature 
him.  But  self  -denial  for  the  sake  of  others  is  Christlike, 
Godlike. 

Again,  and  finally,  enthusiasm  for  humanity  inspires 
sacrifice.  When  a  man  has  what  Clement  of  Eome 
called  "an  insatiable  desire  of  doing  good"  it  makes 
sacrifice  not  only  easy  but  blessed. 

It  is  as  true  of  the  church  as  of  her  Lord  that  only 
sacrificing  power  is  saving  power.  It  is  said  that  Napo- 
leon once  stood  before  his  guards  and  asked  for  a  hun- 

»  Mrs.  Browning's  "  Aurora  Leigh."  7  Matt.  xxv.  40,  46. 


AN  ENTHUSIASM  FOR  HUMANITY.  363 

dred  men  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope.  He  explained  that 
every  man  would  doubtless  be  killed  the  moment  the 
enemy  opened  fire.  Now  who  would  die  for  the 
emperor  ?  "A  hundred  men,  forward  !  Step  out  of  the 
ranks  !  "  And  not  a  hundred  men,  but  the  whole  regi- 
ment, as  one  man,  sprang  forward  in  solid  line  and  rang 
their  muskets  at  his  feet.  And  shall  Christ  and  country 
and  humanity  fail  to  command  an  enthusiasm  which 
Napoleon  kindled  ?  Is  there  nothing  worthy  of  supreme 
sacrifice  to-day?  There  are  many  who  would  die  for 
Christ,  but  in  these  times  he  calls  for  men  willing  to  'live 
for  him.  Human  nature  can  summon  itself  with  high 
resolve  and  in  one  supreme  act  lay  life  itself  on  the 
altar.  Thank  God,  the  heroism  of  martyrdom  has  not 
been  rare  in  the  history  of  his  church;  but  what  is 
needed  to-day  is  a  higher  heroism,  a  nobler,  more  costly 
martyrdom — that  of  the  living  sacrifice,  the  sustained 
resolve,  the  renewed  self-giving,  the  daily  consecration. 
Only  a  living  sacrifice  can,  like  Paul,  "  die  daily." 

The  Captain  of  our  salvation  summons  his  church 
militant  to-day,  not  to  a  forlorn  hope,  but  to  certain  and 
glorious  victory.  Oh  that  the  whole  church  with  un- 
broken line  might  spring  forward  to  offer  the  living 
sacrifice,  until  the  Kingdom  is  fully  come,  and  God's 
will  is  done  on  earth  even  as  it  is  in  heaven  I 


PAGE; 

Abbott,  Dr.  Lyman 196 

Adams,  Mr.  Charles  Francis  296 

Adams,  Rev.  E.  A 277 

Adams,  W.  P 154 

Africa,  15;  our  duty  to 355,  356 

Agricultftre,  depression  of,  in  Europe 157 

"    causes  of 157 

In  the  United  States,  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  on 159 

The  only  possible  future  for 159 

Agricultural  lands,  decline  in  value  of,  in  the  United  States  156 

Alaska,  area,  resources,  and  climate  of 73 

Alexander  the  Great 48 

Allen's  "  Continuity  of  Christian  Thought" 223 

America,  save,  for  the  world's  sake 80 

America,  her  obligai  ions  to  China  and  Africa 355,  356 

American  cities  and  their  population,  De  Tocqueville  on 178 

American  Federation  of  Labor,  membership  of 135 

Americans  and  enthusiasm  for  humanity 354 

Americans,  average  annual  income  of  the  richest  hundred  151 

Andover  Band  of  Maine 324 

Andover  Settlement,  the 277 

Anglo-Saxons,  their  contribution  to  modern  civilization,  54-80;  the  mis- 
sionary race,  55;  unite  in  themselves  the  great  characteristics  of 
the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  5-1-71;  religious  life  of,  54-50; 
their  mastery  of  physical  conditions,  C5-68;  genius  for  propagat- 
ing their  civilization,  68;  home  of,  71-75;  and  the  enthusiasm  for 

humanity 354 

Andrews,  Pres.  E.  B  9,  148 

Argument,  summary  of  the 347,  348 

Arnold,  Dr.  Thomas 308 

Asia  and  Europe,  difference  between  civilizations 23 

Assyria,  civilization  of 22 

Atkinson.  Mr.  Edward,  on  agriculture  in  the  United  States 159 

Aquinas,  Thomas  278 

Bacteria,  capability  of  increase 35 

Baker,  L.  C 32 

Baltimore,  composition  of 190 

Banks,  Rev.  L.  A.,  on  the  Boston  "  sweat-shops  "  '. 154 

Barnett,  Rev.  S.  A 294 

Bascoin,  Pres.  John 229,239 

Baxter,  Richard,  on  the  excluai veness  of  the  church 272 

Berlin,  annual  gain  in  population 187 

Treaty  of 15 

Besant,  Walter 342 

Billionaire,  the  coining 152 

Bismarck,  Prince,  on  Christianity 

Boiea,  Col.  H.  II.,  on  criminals 186 

865 


366  INDEX. 


PAdE 

Booth,  Mrs.  Ballington 198 

Mr.  Charles,  nis  analysis  of  the  "  East  End  "  population 285 

"          "      ou  the  poor  of  London 156 

General 153,  193,  268,  288 

Boston,  compared  with  Birmingham 182 

Composition  of 190 

Boruttau  130 

Bradford,  Rev.  A.  H.,  D.D 208,813 

Brooklyn,  composition  of 190 

Brotherhood  of  man 188 

Browning,  Mrs... 21,163,284,362 

Bryce,  Prof 72,78,  181,184 

Puckle 22 

Bunsen 223 

Burke,  Edmund 89,  230 

Burns  128,  146 

Business  men  and  church  attendance  209 

Butcher,  Professor 70 

Cairnes,  Professor 134 

California,  cost  of  growing  wheat  in  7 

Campbell,  Helen 128,  192 

Candolle,  Mr.  Alphonse  de,  on  the  English  language 61 

Canvass,  an  annual 320,  321 

Carlyle 2,95,  146,249,317 

Carnegie,  Mr 293 

Celsus 41 

Centralization,  significance  of  tendency  toward 8 

Chalmers,  Dr 294,340 

Chamberlain,  the  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph,  Birmingham  and  Boston  compared    181 
Changes,  significant,  during  the  nineteenth  century,  and  their  meaning,  2-5 

Charity,  indiscriminate 293 

Charity  Organization  Society,  the 238,  293 

Charlemagne 39 

Cheyney,  Edward  P.,  on  A  Third  Revolution 162 

Chicago,  composition  of 189 

Insufficient  school  accommodations  of 184 

China,  14;  our  duty  to  355,  356 

Civilization  of 22,25 

Chinese,  lack  of  individualism  among 25 

Christ,  his  coming  delayed,  41 ;  the  authoritative  teacher,  81-113;  the  only 
basis  of  Christian  faith.  82;  genuineness  of  character  and  life, 
83-111;  theories  to  account  for,  83;  largeness  of  his  view,  85;  toler- 
ant, 85;  his  love,  87;  his  estimate  of  human  nature.  87-90;  respect 
for  the  poor,  90;  gave  the  world  a  new  conception  of  man,  90; 
Lowell  on,  91 ;  spiritual  elevation,  91-93;  unity  of  character  of,  96; 
does  violence  to  the  Jewish  conception  of  the  Messiah,  98-100; 
the  claims  of,  101, 102;  gave  to  the  world  a  new  conception  of  God, 
102;  the  one  perfect  example,  103;  diverse  excellences  harmo- 
nized in,  106,  107;  not  the  product  of  his  age,  110,  111;  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen  on,  111,  112;  Mozoomdar  on,  112;  a  new  resurrection 
of,  113;  influencing  many  lives  outside  the  church,  112;  inculcated 
principles,  116;  principle  on  which  he  founded  his  kingdom,  116; 
preached  the  gospel  of  social  regeneration,  217;  a  revelation  of 
God  to  man  and  of  man  to  himself,  223;  his  great  mission  to  in- 
augurate the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  232;  his  idea  of  purity, 
272;  his  estimate  of  human  nature,  349;  his  revelation  of  human 

nature 349 

Christian  era,  each  of  the  several  ages  of  the,  characterized  by  a  ger- 
minal idea 131 

Christianity,  central  idea  of,  51;  and  philanthropy,  239;  of  Christ,  250; 
misunderstood,  250;  passing  through  a  fourth  transitional  period, 

256;  the  absolute  and  final  religion 256 

Church,  the,  in  fragments,  39;  and  home,  weaker  in  the  city  than  else- 
where, 201 ;  separation  of  the  masses  from,  203-221 ;  one  half  of 
population  estranged  from,  207;  mission  of,  222-251;  claims  the 
"sacred"  as  her  sphere,  223;  the  sphere  of,  234;  and  state,  their 
functions,  234;  results  of  the  full  acceptance  of  her  mission,  241- 


367 


PAGE 

251;  her  social  mission  and  co-operation,  307-313;  the  social  con- 
science, 313;   preventive  work  of,  313;  the  collective,  319;  slow 

progress  of 356,  357 

Church,  attendance  in  rural  districts,  168;  goers,  proportion  of ,  to  popu- 
lation, 168;  members,  proportion  of,  to  population,  203;  attend- 
ance, -204,  205;  attendants,  proportion  of,  to  population  in  the 
United  States,  205;  attendance  among  business  men,  209;  among 

workiugmen  in  England 209 

Churches,  congestion  of,  in  rural  districts,  169;  number  of,  to  population 
in  seven  large  cities,  198;  proportion  of,  to  population  in  city  and 
country,  200;  anil  labor  unions,  214,  217;  average  membership  of 
Protestant,  257;  co-operation  and  competition  of,  264;  congestion 
of,  264,  300;  the  divided,  297;  their  latent  powers,  306;  disbanding 

of 327 

1'ities,  law  of  their  growth,  176;  American,  their  population,  hetero- 
geneous and  foreign,  180;  European,  their  population,  homoge- 
neous and  native,  180;  indebtedness  of  ten  large,  in  the  United 
States,  181;  number  of,  in  1880  and  1890,  197;  relative  increase 
of  church  members  in,  199;  religious  destitution  of  the  worst  por- 
tions of 200 

City,  the,  the  problem  of,  178-202;  .Prof.  Francis  Lieber  on,  178;  the  two 

great  principles  applied  to 329-341 

City  evangelization,  the  problem  of,  189-201 ;  and  the  application  of  the 

two  great  principles.   331 

City  population,  rate  of  increase,  164;  relative  increase  of  churches  and    198 
City,  the,  composition  of,  189;  rapid  growth  of,  197;  is  soou  to  control 

the  nation 198 

City  and  country,  relative  growth  of — 188 

Civilization,  Christian,  preserves  the  defective  classes 35 

Progress   of,   along   two  lines,   115;    a   new  evolution    of,   162; 
of  peoples  inversely  as  their  isolation,  3;  transition  state  of,  9; 

European,  24;  and  the  individual 29 

Clark,  J.  B.,  on  t.lie  existing  social  system . .   .  .129, 134 

Classes,  separated  socially  and  geographically 195 

Clement  of  Alexandria 11 

Clement  of  Rome 362 

College  Settlement,  the 277 

Competition,  effects  of 298-300 

Consolidation,  tendency  toward 7,  8 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  Gladstone  on 5J! 

Contact,  the  necessity  of  personal 271-29,") 

Co-operation,  its  necessity,  296-317;  reasons  for,  297-313;  necessary  to 
economy,  300-304;  and  the  latent  forces  of  the  church,  305-307;  the 
cumulative  effect  of.  305;  and  social  mission  of  the  church,  307- 

313;  and  good  roads.. •.   ...    326 

Country,  the  problem  of  the,  161-177;  the  two  great  principles  applied 

to 328-329 

Country  communities,  the  educational  system  of  32ti 

Country  population,  rate  of  increase  164 

County  organization 32 1 

Coyle,  Rev.  John  P.,  on  the  churches  and  labor  unions 214,  217 

Cni-stis,  wealth  of  152 

Crusades,  influence  of  the  30 

(.'uinmings,  Rev.  C.  S.,  on  the  religious  condition  of  Maine 169 

Curtiss,  Professor 335 

Darwin's  Descent  of  Man 34 

Darwinism 21 

Deaconesses,  the  order  of  340 

Death  penalty,  now  and  formerly 160 

Death-rate,  of  children  in  New  York,  192;  variation  of 183 

Degeneration,  the  result  of  isolation 173 

Deity,  progress  toward  a  nobler  apprehension  of 102 

Democracy,  growth  of,  cause  of  political  changes,  4;  significance  of...       5 

Necessitates  popular  education •'> 

Denominational  federation 31 3 

De  Tocqueville 4,  178,203 

Discontent,   popular,  135-163,  its  extent,  135;   the  causes  of,  135-144; 


368  INDEX. 

I'AOtf 

caused  by  the  introduction  of  machinery,  143;  immigration,  144; 
new  methods  of  distribution,  144;  will  not  be  temporary,  145, 158; 

significance  of,  159-163;  in  former  ages 162 

Doctrine,  importance  of,  as  compared  with  conduct 124 

Dorchester,  Rev.  Daniel,  D.D 187,199 

Draper 22 

Drunkenness,  poverty  due  to 166 

Dualism,  a  vicious,  inherited  from  the  Latin  fathers 222 

Dunning,  Dr.  A.  E.,  on  the  religious  condition  of  Maine  and  Illinois —     169 

Durham  miners,  strike  of 153 

"  East  Enders  "  of  London 193 

East  India  Company 30 

"Ecce  Homo,"  author  of ,  quoted 52,  356 

Ecob,  Dr.  James  H 36 i 

Edersheim's  "  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus" 84,  90,  92,  94, 100 

Edison,  Mr 307,  300 

Egypt,  ancient,  civilization  of 22 

Ely,  Prof.  R.  T  93,  148,  215,  294 

Emerson 57,117,177 

Emperor  William  II  6 

England,  rural  population  of,  174;  value  of  food  importations 143 

English  language,  the,  opinions  concerning,  60-62;  spread  of 62-64 

Enthusiasm  for  humanity,  how  kindled,  348-354;  the  elements  of ,  355; 
would  transform  the  church,  356-358;  and  the  social  mission  of  the 

church 358,359 

Epworth  Leagues,  the,  their  opportunity 311 

Erie  Canal,  religious  destitution  along  the 169 

Europe  and  Asia,  difference  between  civilizations  of 23 

Depression  of  agriculture  in 157 

Evarts,  Hon.  W.  M.,  on  the  debt  and  expenditures  of  New  York  City. . .    182 

Evictions,  number  of,  in  New  York  City 155 

Evolution,  a  new,  of  civilization 162 

Fairbairn,  Principal 113,  240 

Fairbanks,  Rev.  Henry,  Ph.D 204 

Family-life,  importance  of  knowing  the 262 

Farmers'  Alliances 135 

Farmers,  causes  of  their  discontent 156-159- 

Farm  laborers,  condition  now  and  formerly 136 

Farms,  abandoned 166 

Farrar,  Archdeacon 79,  209,  267,  268 

Federation  of  churches 313 

Fiske,  Mr.  John 21,  31,  284 

Foster,  Dr.  Addison  P : 326 

France,  decrease  of  rural  population  in  174 

Franco-Prussian  war 2 

Fremantle,  Canon 124,237 

Garrick,  David,  on  preaching 356 

George,  Henry 156,  286 

German  empire,  created  out  of  political  fragments 

Government  and  state  socialism 6 

Social  democrats 216 

Germany,  decrease  of  rural  population  in 174 

Giflfen,  Mr,  on  wages  of  British  workmen 136,  148 

Gilder,  Richard  Watson 11'.' 

Gladden,  Dr.  Washington 6,208,215 

Gladstone,  on  the  gospel 93 

God,  most  clearly  revealed  through  a  person 274 

God -consciousness  249 

Goethe,  on  the  genuineness  of  the  gospels 110 

Gosse,  Edmund,  on  English  poets. ., 57 

Great  Britain,  civilization  of,  24,  richest  nation  in  Europe,  66;  and  the 

United  States,  difference  of  government,  77;  increase  in  wealth  of,    157 
Grecian  civilization,  22;  fatal  lack  of,  38;  mission  of,  47;  beauty  the  in- 
forming idea  of 48 

Grimm,  Jacob,  on  the  English  language 61 

Uuizot 22 

Guthrie.Dr.  314 


INDEX.  369 


PAGE 

Hale,  Dr.  Edward  Everett 76,  289 

Hardwick 46 

Hatch,  Dr.  Edwin 134 

Heathen  and  Mohammedan  peoples,  significant  changes  among,  duriug 

the  past  century „ . . . , 13-15 

Population,  increase  of 254 

Hebrews,  monotheism  of,  42;  their  conception  of  God , 44 

Hebrew  race,  home  of  the. . 71 

Hegel , 22,25,47,50 

Helmholtz,  Prof.,  on  Thomas  Young , 58 

Henry  VIII...    8!) 

Herbert,  George 248 

Heredity,  its  influence 346 

Hill,  Octavia , 863,293,321 

Hin man,  G.  W 6 

Home,  the 260,261 

Homes,  lack  of,  in  cities 331 

House-to-house  visitation 261-263 

Hull  House 277 

Human  nature,  savable ..   ...350,351 

Humanity,  an  enthusiasm  for 342-363 

Humboldt,  Alexander  von 18,  42 

Huntington,  Bishop,  on  the  tenement  population 155 

Husbandry,  spiritual  and  natural 253 

Huxley,  Professor 193 

Hyde,  Pres.  William  de  Witt,  Impending  Paganism  in  New  England 177 

Hyndman,  Mr.  H.  M.,  on  conditions  of  workingmen — 140 

Ideal,  a  new  social,  needed 251 

Illinois,  religious  condition  of  villages  in  169 

Immigrants,  character  of 191 

Income,  average  annual,  of  the  richest  hundred  Americans 151 

Indebtedness  of  ten  cities  in  the  United  States 181 

India,  14;  civilization  of 22 

Indifference  of  church-goers  towards  non-church-goers,  instances  of,  211-213 

Individual,  development  of  the,  should  be  harmonious 31-36 

Individualism,  is  progressive,  23:  a  selfish 127 

Ingalls,  Senator,  on  the  purification  of  politics 179 

Innocent  IV.,  Pope 878 

Institutional  church,  the  244 

Institutional  methods  of  church  work,  results  of,  245;  need  of,  in  coun- 
try, 325;  need  of,  in  cities 334-339 

(reland,  Archbishop,  on  the  mission  of  America 76 

Isolation,  a  result  of  poor  roads,  173;  in  American  cities,  causes  of. ..194,  195 

Italy,  kingdom  of,  created  out  of  political  fragments.- 8 

Japan 13 

Jerusalem,  the  New 237 

Jesuits,  organization  of  the 86 

Jesus.    See  Christ. 

Jews,  dispersion  of  the,  45;  intolerance  of,  84,  85;  their  conception  of 

their  Messiah,  91,  92,  98-100;  their  conception  of  God 102 

Johnson,  Alexander,  on  the  new  problem  of  the  American  republic 8 

Johnston,  Rev.  James  254 

Jtulson.  enthusiasm  of 355 

Juvenal  satirizing  the  Egyptians 44 

KeMe 114 

Kelley,  Mrs.  Florence 844 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen 11,  13,  112 

Kindergarten  training  needed 339 

Kingdom  of  God,  comprehensiveness  of 231 

Heaven,  not  the  abode  of  the  blessed  dead,  231 ;  a  kingdom  of 

priests,  279;  the  church  has  lost  the  idea  of 352 

Kingsley,  Charles 250 

Kurtz,  on  the  Greek  language 4s 

Labor  bureaus 3-< 

Labor  organizations  grown  powerful 5 

Labor-Having  appliances  i W 

Languages,  the  seven  leading,  their  rank  in  !  M)l  an<J  1890 62 


370 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Laveleve,  Emile  de,  on  the  United  States  a  hundred  years  hence. .  .  —  75 

Law,  the  second  great,  regarded  by  the  church  as  ideal 123 

Neglect  of  the,  has  resulted  in  a  selfish  individualism,  127;  no 

social  system  inconsistent  with  the  second  great  la\v  can  endure,  133 
Laws,  the  two  fundamental,  114;  the  church  insisting  on  the  first,  and 

social  reformers  on  the  second,  130;  acceptance  of  both  urged 130 

Laws,  natural,  expressions  of  the  will  of  nature's  Creator 229 

Lay  activity,  need  of  increased 295 

Lay  preaching  280 

Lieber,  Prof.  Francis,  on  the  problem  of  the  city 1 78 

Loan  libraries    324 

Lodges,  statistics  of,  as  compared  with  churches 128 

London,  the  poor  of,  156;  foreign  population  of,  180;  annual  gain  in 
population,  187;  the  "  City"  of,  197;  the  East  End  of,  analysis  of 

its  population 285 

Longfellow.  . .  16 

"  Looking  Backward."  the  author  of 118 

Loomis,  Rev.  Samuel  Lane 176,  180,  207 

Louis  XV 4 

Love  and  sacrifice 289 

Low,  Pres.  Seth,  on  the  era  of  combination,  28;  on  workingmen's 

wages 148 

Lowell,  James  Russell 1,  91,  291 

Loyola 26 

Luther 26,  223 

Mabie,  Hamilton  W 59 

Maine,  the  religious  condition  of,  169;  church  attendance  in 204 

Macdonald,  George 289 

Mackay-Smith,  Archdeacon 200 

Mackenzie,  Robert,  on  Europe  sixty  years  ago 4 

Magna  Charta  and  its  signers 137 

Mai thusian  theory,  escape  from  the  conclusions  of  the 86 

Mann,  Horace,  on  church  accommodations 303 

"  Margaret,  the  Mother  of  Criminals  " 346 

Masses,  the,  are  to  determine  the  future  of  civilization l(il 

Their  separation  from  the  church,  203-221 ;  causes  of,  210-216;  must 

be  saved  as  individuals 260 

McAH  missions,  the  methods  of  the 334,  336 

McCosh,  Dr.  James 304 

Methods  of  church  work,  318-323;  the  old  wholly  inadequate,  257;  the 

necessity  of  new,  252-270;  must  be  simple  and  flexible 318 

Migration  from  country  to  city,  173;  not  peculiar  to  the  United  States, 

174;  a  world  movement 174 

Mill,  John  Stuart 110,  130 

Miller,  Justice 8 

Mills,  Rev.  C.  S.,  on  "  The  Institutional  Church  " 245 

Missions,  modern,  preparatory 16 

Monasticism 222 

Montalembert,  on  England 55 

Montana,  the  entire  human  family  gathered  within  the  bounds  of 72 

Montesquieu,  on  Englishmen 60 

Moody,  Mr.,  on  the  church  and  the  masses 'Mi 

Morality  and  true  religion,  essential  difference  between 51 

Mountain  whites,  the 35,  173 

Mozoomdar,  on  Christ ...  11- 

Municipal  government,  a  factor  in  the  problem  of  the  city 179-189 

Misrule 329 

Reforms  and  city  evangelization,  connection  between 330 

Napoleon  I 4,  39,  362,  363 

New  England,  number  of  depleted  townships  in 167 

New  Hampshire,  abandoned  farms  in 166 

New  Orleans,  composition  of 190 

Newspapers,  circulation  of,  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 138 

>>w  York  City,  proportion  of  population  living  in  tenement  houses, 
154:  number  of  millionaires  in.  154;  number  of  evictions  in,  155: 

jm'ivasp  of  municipal  debt;  181;  roinpusiiifn  cf  , —  J89 


INDEX.  371 


PAGE 

Nineteenth  century,  the,  one  of  preparation,  1-16;  physical,  political, 

and  social  changes  in 2-5 

Noble,  F.  P.,  statistics  of  the  Salvation  Array 268 

Non-church-goers,  number  of,  in  the  United  States 205 

Organization  and  co-operation : 265 

The  tendency  toward,  77,  2%;  is  conservative 23 

Orton,  Mr.,  on  the  English  language 61 

Owen,  Robert  37 

Paris,  annual  gain  in  population 187 

Parker,  Theodore 78,  108 

Parkhurst,  Dr 123,219,274,278,304 

Pauper,  the,  his  needs 294 

Pauperism,  the  problem  of,  how  solved 293 

Pauperism  and  crime  in  the  city 194 

Patents,  number  of,  issued  in  the  United  States 66 

Peabody,  Prof.,  on  true  liberty 38 

Peasantry,  ignorant  rural 173 

Pericles,  contemporaries  of 25 

Personal  contact,  the  necessity  of 271-295 

Personality,  the  great  power  in  all  redemptive  work 277 

Pnelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  on  extravagances  of  the  rich 154 

Philadelphia,  composition  of,  189;  government  of  182,  183 

Philanthropy  and  Christianity,  239;  and  religion,  separation  of 126,  127 

Phillips,  Wendell,  on  great  municipalities 187 

Physical,  interdependence  of  the  spiritual  and  the 228,  229 

Pierson,  Dr.  A  T 13,  192,  360 

Poetry,  an  expression  of  individuality 26 

Political  economy,  must  become  a  department  of  applied  Christianity.    129 

Politics,  their  purification,  Senator  Ingalls  on 179 

Poor,  "  considering"  the 294 

Population,  drift  of,  to  the  cities,  8,  166;  results  of  the  movement  of, 
from  country  to  city,  168-174;  of  cities  and  that  of  the  country  in 

1920,188;  foreign,  in  the  larger  cities 190 

Post,  Neic  York  Evening,  quoted 290 

Poverty,  drunkenness  due  to  156 

Press,  influence  of  the,  on  popular  intelligence,  139;  its  influence 198 

Principles,  the  two  fundamental,  illustrations  of  their  application.... 265-268 

The  two  great,  applied  to  the  two  great  problems 318-341 

Printing,  the  invention  of 137 

"  Prisoners  of  Poverty,"  author  of,  on  the  existing  social  system 128 

Problem,  the,  of  the  country 164-177 

Progress  of  the  race  along  two  lines 6 

Of  the  world  subject  to  laws,  29;  to  be  much  more  rapid  in  the 

future 22 

Protestantism  and  Romanism,  fundamental  difference  between 26 

The  religion  of  a  book 82 

Public  opinion,  how  educated 310-312 

Public  schools,  sacrificed  to  politics 184 

Race,  the  progress  of,  along  two  lines,  6,  81 ;  destiny  of.  17-4G;  solidar- 
ity of,  108;  oneness  of 342-347 

Railways  of  the  United  States,  number  of  passengers  carried  in  1891 ...    139 

Railway  systems,  consolidation  of 296 

Reformation,  the  German,  and  individualism. , 132 

Religion  and  culture,  perfect  harmony  of,  520;  each  necessary  to  the 

perfection  of  the  other Idl 

Religion  and  philanthropy,  separation  of ,...,126,  127 

Revolution,  the  third  will  be  social  and  economic 162 

Revolution  or  evolution? , 10 

Ricardo,  "iron  law"  of 145 

Rich,  the  neglected  Christless 292 

Riis.Jacob 283 

Roads,  the  depletion  of  rural  districts  causes  their  deterioration 170 

An  index  to  civilization,  170;  affect  economic,  intellectual,  moral 

and  religious  conditions. 171-174 

Roman  society,  corruption  of 35T 

Romanism  suppresses  individuality,  26;  the  religion  of  a  church 8-.' 

Romans,  mission  of  tbe 49 


372  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  on  the  grade  of  New  York's  city  politicians 186 

Rousseau 109 

Rural  districts,  congestion  of  churches  in 169 

Representative,  in  New  York  Slate,  investigated 168 

Towns,  depletion  of 165. 

Russia,  civilization  of , 24 

Sabbath,  Continental  ideas  of 210' 

"Sacred"  and  "secular,"  the  distinction  of,  false  and  mischievous,    . 

285;  distinction  between  them  unknown  in  the  early  church 124 

Sacrifice  the  only  adequate  expression  of  love  289 

Saloou,  the 80,  842,  310 

Salter.  Win.  Mackintire 242 

Salvation  Army,  the,  26";  saving  work  of 351 

San  Francisco,  composition  of 189 

Sanitary  inspectors,  their  inefficiency  183 

Savage's,  Rev.  M.  J.,  definition  of  religion 286 

Schaff,  I)r.,  on  Renaissance  and  Reformation 34 

On  the  English  language 60 

Schenkel,  Dr 85 

Schiller 185 

Schmidt's  "  Social  Results  of  Early  Christianity" 87,  88,  247 

Schmidt  on  I  he  corruption  of  Roman  society 52 

Schmoiler  on  socialism , 6 

School  accommodations,  insufficient  in  Chicago 184 

Science,  laws  of,  God's  laws,  11;  progress  of,  11;  a  revelation  from  God      12 

Sciulder,  Dr.  John  L 245,  247 

Self-government,  local,  in  the  United   States,  77;    favorable  to  more 

complete  social  organization 77 

Self-sacrifice,  not  commonly  seen 289 

Seneca 88 

Sectarianism 299 

Separation  of  the  masses  from  the  church,  its  significance 220 

Shaftesbury  210,360 

Shearman,  Mr.  Thomas  G.,  on  average  income  of  the  richest  hundred 

Americans 151 

Skepticism,  dissipated  by  self-giving 292 

"  Slum  sisters"  of  the  Salvation  Army 271" 

Slums,  the,  their  causes  and  continuance,  194;  "  putrefying  sores".       .     332' 

Smalley.  E.  V 346. 

Smith,  Sydney 58,  287. 

Socialism,  accepted  by  many  of  the  younger  clergy,  6;  growth  of,  in 

Germany,  6;  Schmoiler  on 6". 

Socialists,  generally  opposed  to  the  Christian  religion 130' 

Social  problem,  the  two  great  factors  of  the 118 

Problems  have  a  "  home  end  " 261 

Society,  Christ's  fundamental  law  of,  127;  organization  of,  should  be 

harmonious •. 36-40' 

Sociological  questions,  interest  in 5 

Solidarity  of  the  race 103 

South,  Bishop 192 

Spencer,  Herbert 35,  66,  04 

Spiritual  famine  common,  for  lack  of  information 288 

Spiritual,  interdependence  of  the  physical  and  the 228,229 

Springer,  Hon.  William  M..  on  the  decrease  of  the  rural  population 165 

StaSI.  Madame  de 21 

St.  Andrew's  Brotherhood,  their  opportunity 311 

Starvation,  instances  of 286-288 

State  committees  in  the  interest  of  co-operation 327-329 

Stead,  Mr.  William  T 9.235,  297 

Steam  and  electricity,  their  profound  influence  on  modern  civilization, 

2;  facilitate  organization , , 7,  27 

St.  Louis,  composition  of 190 

Storrs,  Dr.  R.  S 40 

Rtrauss's  Life  of  Jesus,  96;  rendered  an  invaluable  service  to  Christianity    113 

Strikes,  number  of  employes  involved  ift,  from  1881-1886 135 

Nummary  of  the  argument. ....„...,, — 347,  348 

fumner,  Mr.  William  G ;.,..........  .;.    228 


INDEX.  373 


PAGE 

Sunday  newspaper,  the 210 

Sunday-school,  the  "  children's  church" 210 

"  Sweating"  system,  the  153 

Swinton.  John,  on  the  workingman 138 

Table,  showing  rank  of  the  seven  leading  languages  in  1801  and  1890 —  62 
Showing  number  of  lodges  as  compared  with  churches  in  eight 

cities 128 

Showing  movement  of  population  from  country  to  city 164 

Showing  increase  of  population  in  a  score  of  cities 197 

Showing  relative  increase  of  church  members  in  our  cities 199 

Taine  57 

Taxation,  increase  of,  in  cities  of  the  United  States 18f 

Taylor,  Bayard 51 

Taylor,  Bishop.. 63 

Taylor,  Dr.  Graham,  statistics  of  lodges  as  compared  with  churches. ..  128 

Taylor,  Hon.  James  W.,  American  Consul  at  Winnipeg 73 

Taylor,  Jer.-my,  on  God's  method  of  saving  men  274 

Tenement,  the,  191;  population,  155;  houses  in  New  York  City,  propor- 
tion of  population  living  in,  154;  condition  of,  155;  number  of,  in 

New  York 196 

Tennyson 40, 117,  193,  22? 

Terence,  famous  apothegm  of 88 

Thomson,  Sir  William 276 

Tyndall,  Prof 58 

Tientsin,  Treaty  of  14 

Tolstoi.  Russian  Minister  of  the  Interior,  on  stopping  the  growth  of 

Nihilism.... 140 

Townships,  number  of,  depleted  in  thirty-nine  States 166 

ToynbeeHall 277 

Turkey ; 15 

Twentieth  century,  the  beginning  of  a  new  era 1 

United  States,  extent  of,  71-73;  advantages  of,  73;  agricultural  re- 
sources of,  73;  a  hundred  years  hence,  75;  decline  in  value  of 
agricultural  lands,  156;  proportion  of  urban  to  rural  population, 
164;  corruption  of  municipal  politics  in  the,  181;  government  of 

cities  in,  a  failure  184,185 

Union  churches — 327 

Unity  in  diversity,  the  fundamental  law  of  the  universe 18 

Van  Dyke,  Dr.  H  J.,  on  a  Christian  life 52 

Vermont,  proportion    of   church-goers    to   population  in  forty-four 

towns  of : 204 

Vice  and  crime,  remedy  for  295 

Virgil  on  depletion  of  rural  districts 176 

Visitation  should  be  systematized  288,  321 

Washburn,  Governor 'William  B.,  and  his  personal  Christian  work 291 

Wealth  of  Great  Britain 157 

Wealth,  average,  of  American  families  in  1880  and  1890 150 

Wcisse,  Dr.  John  A.,  on  the  English  language 61 

Welch,  Prof.  Rodney,  on  deserted  farms  172 

Wells.  David  A  7,  136,  142,  143,  144,  148,  149,  157,  159,  343 

Westcott,  Bishop,  on  the  economic  revolution 9 

Westminster  Review,  on  the  transition  state  of  civilization 9 

White,  Andrew  D 183,  185 

White,  Arnold 254 

Whitman, Walt 226 

Willard,  Frances  E 139,  153 

Wolseley,  Lord,  on  General  Booth 269 

Woman's  changed  status  132 

Woodbridge,  Miss  Alice  S 286 

Workingman,  the  circumstances  of,  141-159;  conditions  now  and  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  141;  and  labor-saving  inventions,  142;  Mr.  H.  M. 

Hi  ml  man  on  the  sufferings  of 145 

Workiugman,  the  average,  in  the  United  States  more  intelligent  than, 
many  a  noble  a  few  centuries  ago.  137;  feels  that  be  is  not  shar- 
ing equitably  in  the  general  prosperity,  147;  greater  disparity  be- 
tween his  income  and  wants  now  than  ever  before,  148;  progress 

of  the,  n.pt  proportionate  to  the  general  material  progress, 149 


374  INDEX. 


PAGE 

Workingmen.  change  in  them  during  the  past  century,  137-141 ;  average 
earnings  and  expenses  of  iheir  families  in  Massachusetts.  147; 
Mr.  Giffen  on  their  wages  now  and  fifty  years  ago,  148;  Pres.  E. 
B.  Andrews,  Prof.  R.  T.  Ely,  and  Pres.  Seth  Low  on  their  wages, 

148;  their  attitude  toward  the  church 213-215 

World-life,  tendency  toward  a . .    145 

Wright,  Hon.  Carroll  D..  on  Christianity 93 

Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  their  opportunity 311 


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interest,  which  holds  the  auditor  and  reader  to  the  end.  Apt- 
ness of  illustration  and  pointed  and  forceful  presentation 
characterize  the  book :  while  avoiding  the  grotesque,  it  is 
thoroughly  popular,  entertaining,  and  natural. 

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BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO.'ti  PUBLICATIONS. 


THREE   PULPIT   AND    PASTORATE   BOOKS. 

THE  DIVINE  ART  OF  PREACHING.  By  Rev. 
ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON,  D.D. 

CONTENTS. — I.  The  Sermon  as  an  Intellectual  Product. 
II.  The  Preacher  among  His  Books.  III.  The  Preacher 
with  His  Themes.  IV.  The  Preacher  Training  His  Memory. 
V.  The  Twin-Laws  of  the  Sermon.  VI.  Types  of  Sermon 
Structure.  VII.  The  Preacher  among  the  Mysteries.  VIII. 
The  Preacher  among  the  Critics.  IX.  The  Preacher  with 
His  Bible.  X.  The  Preacher  in  His  Pulpit.  XI.  The 
Preacher  among  Snares.  XII.  The  Preacher  among  His 
People.  XIII.  The  Preacher  Communing  with  the  Spirit. 

"  It  contains  the  freshest  thoughts  of  one  of  the  leading 
preachers  of  the  world,  on  a  subject  of  deep  interest  to  min- 
isters everywhere. " —  Cumberland  Presbyterian. 

HOW    TO    BE    A    PASTOR.      By    Rev.    THEODORE 

CUYLER,  D.D. 

CONTENTS. — I.  Importance  of  Pastoral  Labor.  II.  Pas- 
toral Visits.  III.  Visitation  of  the  Sick— Funeral  Services. 
IV.  Treatment  of  the  Troubled.  V.  How  to  Have  a  Work- 
ing Church.  VI.  Training  Converts.  VII.  Prayer-meetings. 
VIII.  A  Model  Prayer  meeting.  IX.  Revivals.  X.  Drawing 
the  Bow  at  a  Venture.  XI.  Where  to  be  a  Pastor.  XII.  Joys 
of  the  Christian  Ministry. 

"The  fruit  of  large  native  sense,  long  experience,  wide 
observation,  and  devout  consecration." — Congregatwnalist. 

THE  WORKING  CHURCH.  By  Rev.  CHARLES  F. 
THWING,  D.D. 

I.  The  Church  and  the  Pastor.  II.  The  Character  of 
Church  Work.  III.  The  Worth  and  Worthlessuess  of 
Methods.  IV.  Among  the  Children.  V.  Among  the  Young 
People.  VI.  Among  Business  Men.  VII.  From  the  Business 
Point  of  View.  VIII.  Two  Special  Agencies.  IX.  The 
Treatment  of  Strangers.  X.  The  Unchurched.  XI.  Duties 
Towards  Benevolence.  XII.  The  Rewards  of  Christian  Work. 
XIII.  In  the  Country  Town. 

"Every  chapter  is  full  of  pith,  bristling  with  points,  wise, 
sound,  and  practical." — The  Evangelist. 

16mo,  cloth,  gilt  top.  In  a  set,  $2.25.  Separately,  each, 
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BAKER  d  TAYLOR  CO.' 8  PUBLICATIONS. 

EXPOSITORY  THOUGHTS  ON  THE  GOSPELS. 
By  Rt.  Rev.  J.  C.  RYLE,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Liverpool. 
7  vols.,  12mo,  cloth,  in  a  set,  $8.00.  Matthew, 
1  vol. ;  Mark,  1  vol. ;  Luke,  2  vols. ;  John,  3  vols. 
Each  volume,  $1.25. 

The  seven  volumes,  convenient  iu  size  and  aggregating 
nearly  3000  pages,  are  devoted  as  follows:  one  to  Matthew, 
one  to  Mark,  two  to  Luke,  three  to  John.  As  indicated  by 
the  title,  the  work  is  pre-eminently  expository  iu  character 
In  his  treatment  of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  the  author 
divides  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  into  passages  of  about 
twelve  verses  each,  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  serves  as  a  basis 
for  a  continuous  series  of  short,  plain  "Expositions."  To  this 
method  he  adds,  when  treating  the  Gospel  by  John,  the  verse 
by  verse  exegesis.  The  practical  lessons  and  inferences  from 
the  passages  given  are  followed  by  notes  explanatory,  doctrinal, 
and  hortatory,  and  the  views  of  other  commentators  are  pre- 
sented from  time  to  time. 

"It  is  the  kernels  without  the  shells/'—  Christian  Union. 

"  It  is  the  master  work  of  a  master  workman,  and  shall 
abide  among  the  noblest  works  of  the  noblest  expositor  of  the 
truth  of  God." — Religious  Herald. 

"  As  practical  expositions,  these  Notes  on  the  Gospels  are 
not  excelled  by  any  works  on  the  Gospels  in  our  language." — 
Evangelical  Repository. 

' '  We  are  always  glad  to  get  a  new  book  from  the  pen  of 
this  admirable  writer.  His  thoughts  are  warm,  earnest,  spir- 
itual, and  practical.  Indeed  there  are  few  modern  writers  who 
more  happily  combine  the  instructive  with  the  popular  style 
of  writing." — New  York  Observer. 

"We  regard  them  as  taking  the  lead  of  all  works  of  the 
same  kind  in  respect  to  soundness  of  doctrinal  views,  and  iu 
regard  to  clear  and  consistent  statements  pertaining  to  the  fun- 
damental points  of  redemption.  The  '  Thoughts '  are  critical, 
historical,  exegetical,  and  devotional,  and  will  be  of  permanent 
value  in  the  family,  in  the  school,  and  in  the  instructions  of 
the  House  of  God." — Episcopalian. 

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&  TAYLOR  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

BOOKS  BY  REV.  THEODORE  L.  CTTYLER,  D.D. 

HOW  TO  BE  A  PASTOR.  16mo,  cloth,  gilt  top 
(uniform  with  Dr.  Pierson's  "  Divine  Art  of 
Preaching"),  75  cents. 

"If  any  man  living  understands  the  subject  of  this  little 
book  it  is  Dr.  Cuyler." — Independent. 

"  The  fruit  of  large  native  sense,  long  experience,  wide  ob- 
servation, and  devout  consecration." — Congregationalism. 

"  This  book  will  be  read  by  thousands  of  teachable  and  con- 
scientious ministers.  It  ought  to  be.  Dr.  Cuyler  is  a  noted 
example  of  success  in  this  branch  of  work.  Nobody's  pen 
can  write  wiser  words  than  his." — Mich.  Christian  Advocate. 

"Dr.  Cuyler  is  a  man  who  is  'all  there 'when  the  bell 
rings." — C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

STIRRING  THE  EAGLE'S  NEST,  AND  OTHER 
PRACTICAL  DISCOURSES.  12mo,  cloth,  with 
a  photogravure  portrait  of  the  author,  $1.25. 

A  collection  of  eighteen  sermons  thoroughly  representative 
of  the  author's  characteristic  style  and  speech. 

"  This  volume  shows  what  kind  of  preaching  built  up  the 
great  congregation  he  held  together,  and  made  a  frequent  de- 
mand, for  his  pulpit  services  on  both  sides  of  the  sea." — N.  Y. 
Evangelist. 

"  His  popularity  as  a  preacher  and  writer  has  been  not  only 
great,  but  enduring,  and  when  we  turn  to  these  sermons  it  is 
not  hard  to  find  the  reason." — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

"  Dr.  Cuyler  is  easily  one  of  the  most  practical  and  edifying 
preachers  and  writers  of  our  times."- — Christian  Advocate. 

"Few  men  have  impressed  themselves  as  widely  and  help 
fully  on  his  generation  as  he  has  done,  and  no  one  can  read 
this  volume  without  being  instructed,  stimulated,  quickened, 
•and  helped." — Public  Opinion. 

STRAY  ARROWS.    ISmo,  cloth,  60  cents. 

"A  collection  of  brief,  pointed,  religious  articles.  They 
are  very  suggestive,  and  arrest  the  reader's  attention  by  their 
pointed  manner  as  well  as  their  striking  and  impressive 
thought." — Evangelist. 

"Polished  shafts  that  should  be  scattered  widely." — Ob- 
terver. 

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BOOKS    BY   REV.  THEODORE   L.    CTJYLER,  ^.^.-(Con- 
tinued.) 

GOD'S  LIGHT  ON  DARK  CLOUDS.  16mo,  cloth, 
75  cents;  white  and  gold  gift  edition,  $1.00. 

"  To  thousands  of  disconsolate  hearts  these  pages  are  fitted 
to  carry  just  the  comfort  which  they  crave." — Congregational- 
ist. 

"  These  are  words  of  sympathy  and  cheer  to  the  desponding 
and  bereaved — utterances  clear,  tender,  and  comforting  out  of 
a  suffering  heart  to  suffering  hearts." — Presbyterian. 

"  For  sentences  that  strike  and  stick,  gems  that  gleam  and 
glow,  and  thoughts  that  thrill,  commend  us  to  our  American 
friend . " — Spurgeon. 

THE  EMPTY  CRIB.  16mo,  cloth,  full  gilt,  two  steel 
portraits,  75  cents;  white  and  gold  gift  edition, 
$1.00. 

"  Those  who  have  lost  little  children  by  death  will  read  this 
book  with  moist  eyes." — Luilieran  Observer. 

"  A  real  gem;  the  outpouring  of  a  stricken  parent's  sorrows 
into  the  very  bosom  of  the  Saviour." — Christian  Advocate. 

"The  most  beautiful  little  gift  for  bereaved  parents  is  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Cuyler's  tribute  to  his  Georgie — '  The  Empty*Crib' 
—a  saintly  bunch  of  white  lilies  is  it  from  full  hands  and 
hearts." — Zion's  Herald. 

"  These  words  of  consolation  are  fitly  spoken — tender,  lov- 
ing, and  earnest — well  directed  to  the  minds  of  those  in  sor- 
row."— N.  Y.  Observer. 

POINTED  PAPERS  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 
12mo,  cloth,  with  a  steel  portrait  of  the  author, 
$1.50. 

"  Dr.  Cuyler  holds  steadily  the  position  which  he  reached 
years  ago,  as  the  best  writer  of  pointed,  racy  religious  articles 
in  our  country." — Presbyterian. 

"  We  know  of  no  better  volume  for  the  stimulation  and 
guidance  of  the  Christian  life  in  all  our  reading,  nor  one  more 
likely  to  attract  and  hold  readers  of  widely  varying  culture 
and  character. " — Evangelist. 

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BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO '8  PUBLICATIONS. 
BOOKS  BY  BEV.  ABTHUR  T.  PIERSON,  D.D. 

THE  DIVINE  ART  OF  PREACHING.  16mo, 
cloth  (uniform  with  Dr.  Cuyler's  "  How  to  be  a 
Pastor"),  75  cents. 

The  book  is  designed  to  throw  out  useful  hints  on  the  use 
of  books,  method  in  study,  cultivation  of  habits  of  thought, 
force  of  style,  and,  in  general,  whatever  makes  a  thoroughly 
furnished  minister  of  Christ. 

"  Without  hesitation  we  rank  Dr.  Piersou  as  one  of  the 
foremost  living  homilists.  Now  let  some  one  send  a  copy  of 
this  book  to  every  theological  student  and  to  every  home-mis- 
sionary in  the  land." — Golden  Rule. 

THE  HEART  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  16mo,  cloth,  gilt 
top,  $1.25. 

Twelve  sermons  preached  in  Spurgeon's  pulpit. 

"They  stand  as  examples  of  Dr.  Pierson's  conspicuous  abil- 
ity as  an  extempore  speaker.  In  them  he  is  seen  at  his  best." 
— N.  Y.  Observer. 

THE  CRI8IS  OF  MISSIONS  ;  OR,  THE  VOICE  OUT 
OF  THE  CLOUD.  16mo,  paper,  35  cents;  cloth, 
$1.25. 

"  One  of  the  most  important  books  to  the  cause  of  Foreign 
Missions,  and,  through  them,  to  Home  Missions  also,  which 
ever  has  been  written.  It  should  be  in  every  library  and 
every  household.  It  should  be  read,  studied,  taken  to  heart, 
and  prayed  over." — The  Congregationalist. 

EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  PRINCIPLE  AND 
PRACTICE.  16mo,  paper,  35  cents;  cloth,  $1.25. 

"  If  our  pen  could  become  as  fervent  as  fire  and  as  fluent  as 
the  wave,  we  could  not  write  either  too  warmly  or  too  well  of 
this  book.  Dr.  Pierson  has  given  us  a  real  book — a  thunder- 
bolt—a cataract  of  fire.  These  flame  flakes  ought  to  fall  in 
showers  all  over  Christendom,  and  set  every  house  on  fire." — 
C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

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BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
BOOKS  BY  BEV.  ARTHUBT.  PIEBSON,D.D.-(C'on<inwed.) 

THE  DIVINE  ENTERPRISE  OF  MISSIONS.  16mo, 
cloth,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 

Iu  this  work  the  author  seeks  the  eternal  and  immutable 
principles  of  mission  work  in  the  utterances  of  the  Master 
himself.  The  subject  is  treated  under  the  Divine  Thought, 
Plan,  Work,  Spirit,  Force,  Fruit,  and  Challenge  of  Missions. 

"  Dr.  Piersou  has  come  into  the  very  front  rauk,  if  he  does 
not  actually  occupy  a  position  in  advance  of  all  other  agitators 
for  Foreign  Mission  work.  We  know  of  no  other  source 
where  broader  views  or  truer  stimulus  can  be  found  for  this 
greatest  work  of  the  Church." — N.  Y.  Christian  Advocate. 

THE  ONE  GOSPEL;  OR  THE  COMBINATION  OF  THE 
NARRATIVES  OF  THE  FOUR  EVANGELISTS  IN  ONE 
COMPLETE  RECORD.  Edited  by  ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON. 
12mo,  flexible  cloth,  red  edges.  75  cents;  limp 
morocco,  full  gilt,  $2.00. 

Without  taking  the  place  of  the  four  Gospels,  this  book  will 
be  an   aid   in   their  study — a  commentary   wholly   biblical, 
'    whereby  the  reader  may,  at  one  view,  see  the  complete  ami 
harmonious  testimony  of  four  independent  witnesses. 

STUMBLING-STONES  ^  REMOVED  FROM  THE 
WORD  OF  GOD.  18mo,  cloth,  50  cents. 

In  this  little  book  many  supposed  difficulties  of  the  Bible 
are  shown  not  to  be  such  in  fact,  and  such  simple  rules  of 
interpretation  of  a  general  character  are  l;dd  down,  as  to  make 
clear  the  literal  truth  of  many  passages  which  to  some  minds 
have  previously  been  doubtful  or  only  capable  of  the  explana- 
tion that  they  were  used  metaphorically. 

"A  little  volume  worth  ils  weight  in  gold,  in  which  many 
of  the  difficult  and  obscure  passages  of  Scripture  are  made 
clear  and  easy  to  be  understood." — Christian  at  Work. 

"This  is  a  small  book,  but  it  contains  a  good  deal— remov- 
ing many  supposed  difficulties  from  the  Bible,  and  helping 
believers  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  book." — Presbyteria  n 
Observer. 

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BAKER  &   TAYLOR  CO.' 8  PUBLICATIONS. 
TWO  BOOKS  ON  SOCIAL  QUESTIONS. 

MODERN  CITIES  AND  THEIR  RELIGIOUS  PROB- 
LEMS. By  Rev.  SAMUEL  LANE  Looms,  with  an  In- 
troduction by  Rev.  JOSIAH  STRONG,  D.D.  12mo, 
cloth,  $1.00. 

CONTENTS.— The  Growth  of  Modern  Cities.  The  Social 
Composition  of  American  Cities.  The  Threat  of  the  Cities. 
Christian  Work  in  London — The  Church  of  England — 
Dissenting  Churches — Other  Movements.  The  McAll  Mis- 
sion. Suggestions  regarding  Christian  Work  for  our  Cities 

"It  presents  clearly  and  forcibly  the  increasingly  difficult 
problem  of  the  modern  city,  and  will  prove  to  be  a  store- 
house of  information  to  all  workers  in  this  field.  Like  'Our 
Country,'  by  Rev.  Dr.  Strong,  this  book  is  one  of  the  most 
marked  books  of  the  current  year." — Rev.  A.  F.  Schauffler, 
D.D. 

SOCIALISM  AND  CHRISTIANITY.  By  A.  J.  tf. 
BEHRENDS,  D.D.  12mo,  paper,  50  cents;  clotn, 
$1.00. 

This  book  treats  from  a  new  point  of  view  the  problems 
raised  by  the  most  frequently  advanced  social  theories  of  the 
day;  their  relations  to  the  reciprocal  duties  of  labor  and  capital, 
and  the  position  of  the  Christian  Church  with  reference  to  the 
social  and  industrial  movements  that  are  taking  place  about 
it. 

CONTENTS. — Social  Theories  II.  Historical  Sketch,  'ill. 
The  Aaumptions  of  Modern  Socialism.  IV.  The  Economic 
Fallacies  of  Modern  Socialism.  V.  The  Rights  of  Labor. 
VI.  The  Responsibilities  (ff  Wealth.  VII.  The  Personal  and 
Social  Causes  of  Pauperism.  VIII.  The  Historical  Causes  of 
Pauperism  and  its  Cure.  IX.  The  Treatment  of  the  Criminal 
Classes.  X.  Modern  Socialism,  Religion,  and  the  Family. 

"It  is  the  first  approach  to  the  popular,  systematic  presenta- 
tion of  the  principles  of  the  destructive  socialism  of  the  day," 
— Presbyterian  Journal. 

"It  is  a  book  for  the  times,  in  the  interest  of  truth  aud 
justice  and  pure  religion."— N.  Y.  Observer. 

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BAKER  &   TAYLOR  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
TWO  BOOKS  ON  THE  SUNDAY  QUESTION. 

THE  HALLOWED  DAY.  Fletcher  Prize  Essay, 
Dartmouth  College,  1892.  By  Rev.  GEORGE 
GUIREY.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

The  writer  assumes  the  perpetual  observation  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  and  shows  what  belougs  to  its  right  observance,  its  uses, 
and  its  abuses — presenting  also  urgent  reasons  for  this  right 
observance.  The  principles  that  govern  are  exhibited  as  fully 
as  possible  in  their  practical  application  to  the  questions  and 
issues  of  the  day.  It  is  eminently  a  treatise  for  the  times  in 
which  we  live. 

CONTENTS. — Part  I.  The  Right  Observance  of  the  Lord's  Day. 
Part  II.  Reasons  for  the  Right  Observance  of  the  Lord's  Day. 
Part  III.  Application  of  the  Principles  that  Govern  the  Observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's  Day.  (Appendix.)  "  The  Seventh  Day 
Question." 

THE  SABBATH  FOR  MAN.  With  Special  Refer- 
ence to  the  Rights  of  Workingmen,  based  on 
Scripture  and  a  Symposium  of  Correspondence 
with  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  Repre- 
sentative Men  of  all  Nations  and  Denominations. 
Sixth  Edition,  Revised  and  Enlarged,  1892.  By 
Rev.  WILBUR  F.  CRAFTS.  12mo,  cloth,  656  pp., 
$1.50. 

A  Cyclopedia  of  the  Sunday  Question. 

"  Mr.  Craft's  volume  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  useful 
authoritative  book  on  its  topic  that  has  appeared  for  many 
years  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic."— Joseph  Cook. 

"The  book  outranks  all  others  on  this  vital  theme." — Mfo» 
Frances  E.  Willard. 

"Such  a  practical  commentary  upon  the  Sunday  question 
Is  not  to  be  found  in  any  other  manual,  English  or  American." 
— Sunday-school  Times. 

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TWO  BOOKS  TOUCHING  FAITH. 

WHAT  ROME  TEACHES.  By  M.  F.  CUSACK  (the 
^un  of  Kenmare).  12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

Since  the  author's  conversion  to  Protestantism,  her  observa- 
tion of  the  general  desire  for  information  as  to  the  actual 
teachings  of  Catholicism,  and  its  attitude  toward  politics  and 
the  press,  has  led  her  to  prepare  this  book.  Her  intimate 
knowledge  of  Catholic  doctrine  and  instruction,  her  long  ex- 
perience in  Romanist  work  and  association  with  Romanist 
workers,  and  her  command  of  a  vigorous  style,  admirably  fit 
her  for  work  of  this  kind. 

"This  volume. fills  a  place  distinctively  its  own.  In  sup- 
port of  what  she  says,  she  cites  from  accredited  documents  of 
the  Roman  hierarchy,  and  makes  out  a  very  strong  case.  Slie 
knows  the  feeling  of  both  priests  and  parishioners,  and  can 
testify  to  the  fact  just  as  it  is." — New  fork  Observer. 

"  As  may  be  supposed,  this  is  not  an  elaborate  treatise  on 
Roman  Catholic  theology,  vbut  a  popular  statement  of  the 
principal  doctrines  which  are  daily  taught  to  pupils,  to  the 
common  people,  and  their  children.  Miss  Cusack  has  a  bright 
and  vigorous  mind,  and  as  she  has  come  out  of  the  church 
because  no  longer  able  to  follow  its  errors,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  she  shows  up  its  doctrines  without  change  or  reservation." 
— The  Advance  (Chicago). 

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work.  Chapters  I — VIII.,  this  is  given  in  popular  language, 
free  from  all  technical  phrases  of  theology.  In  Chapters  IX. 
and  X.  another  outline  is  given  in  the  language  of  the  Catholic 
and  Evangelical  confessions,  and  in  Chapter  XI.  still  another 
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explanation  that  they  were  used  metaphorically. 

THE  ONE  GOSPEL;  OR  THE  COMBINATION  OF  THE 

NARRATIVES  OF  THE   FOUR  EVANGELISTS   IN  ONE 

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WHAT  JESUS  SAYS.  An  Arrangement  of  the 
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ings, with  a  full  Index,  and  List  of  Persons  to 
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word  is  given — oftentimes  under  so  many  different  heads  that 
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"  We  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  this  book  should  be 
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EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  PRINCIPLE  AND 
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An  able  discussion  of  the  best  methods  of  evangelization  by 
an  acknowledged  master  of  the  subject. 

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as  the  wave,  we  could  not  write  either  too  warmly  or  too  well 
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fall  in  showers  all  over  Christendom,  and  set  every  house  on 
fire." — Spurgeon. 

c' The  book  tingles  with  the  evangelistic  spirit,  and  is  full 
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Republican. 

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LOVE  IN  WRATH;  OR,  THE  PERFECTION  OF  GOD'S 
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hands  of  Dr.  Pierson.  In  I  his  day,  when  religion  is  so  apt  to 
be  regarded  as  a  sentiment,  it  is  refreshing  to  have  one  come 
oat  so  plainly  upon  the  subject  which  Dr.  Piersou  treats. 
His  discussion  is  admirable.  He  presents  arguments  and 
draws  conclusions  which  cannot  be  refuted,  and  which  show 
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"  No  lover  of  Emerson  can  afford  to  overlook  this  book. 
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GREELEY  ON  LINCOLN.  With  Mr.  Greeley's  Let- 
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tended) wiihout  motive  to  be  other  than  sincere. 

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appropriate  motto." — The  Evangelist. 

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bride  with  her  marriage  certificate  in  this  form  will  be  likely 
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New  York  Observer. 

SONGS  IN  THE  NIGHT  WATCHES  :  FROM  VOICES 
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AMATEUR  PHOTOGRAPHY.  A  Practical  Guide 
for  the  Beginner.  By  W.  I.  LINCOLN  ADAMS,  Editor 
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and  will  introduce  the  reader  to  new  fields  of  interest. 

CONTENTS. — I.  Apparatus.  II.  In  the  Field.  III.  In  the 
Dark  Room.  IV.  Printing  and  Toning.  V.  Portraiture, 
VI.  Instantaneous  Photography.  VII.  Flash-light  Photog 
raphy.  VIII.  Orthochromatic  or  Color-sensitive  Photogra- 
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PRESIDENT    THWINQ'S    NEW    BOOK. 

WITHIN  COLLEGE  WALLS.  By  CHARLES  FRANKLIN 
THWING,  President  of  Adelbert  College  and  of 
Western  Reserve  University ;  Author  of  ' '  Ameri- 
can Colleges :  their  Students  and  Work," ' ' Reading 
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CONTENTS  : — I.  The  College  and  the  Home.  II.  The  Good 
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IV.  Certain  College  Temptations.  V.  College  Government. 
VI.  Play  in  College.  VII.  Simplicity  and  Enrichment  of  Life 
in  College.  VIII.  The  College  and  the  Church.  IX.  The 
College  Fitting  for  Business.  X.  The  Pre-eminence  of  the 
College  Graduate. 

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title  of  "  American  Colleges."  The  present  book  discusses,  in 
a  liberal  spirit,  those  topics  which  are  uppermost  in  interest  to 
the  students  themselves,  as  well  as  to  their  parents  and  others 
concerned  in  their  work  and  welfare.  Dr.  Thwing  is,  perhaps, 
the  most  prominent  scientific  student  of  college  and  university 
statistics,  and  the  results  of  work  before  and  after  graduation. 
This  carefully  and  entertainingly  written  presentation  of  con- 
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and  encouragement  to  those  within  college  walls,  and  as  an 
enlightened  statement  of  college  aims,  tendencies,  and  possi- 
bilities to  their  friends  without. 

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THE  DIVINE    ENTERPRISE    OF   MISSIONS.     A 
Series  of  Lectures  delivered  at  New  Brunswick, 
N.  J.,  before  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  in  America  upon  the  "Graves" 
Foundation  in  1891.    By  Rev.  ARTHUR  T.  PIERSO^ 
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have  we  seen  a  more  stirring  presentation  of  the  Christian's 
function   of  co-working,  co-suffering,  co-witnessing  with  the 
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THE  GREAT  VALUE  AND  SUCCESS  OF  FOREIGN 
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Scientific  and  other  Travellers  in  Heathen  and  Mohammedan 
countries,  and  in  India  and  the  British  Colonies.  It  also  con- 
tains leading  facts  and  late  statistics  of  the  missions. 

"  A  grand  and  irrefutable  reply  to  those  who  are  fond  of 
decrying  missions." — Christian  at  Work. 

"An  overwhelming  mass  of  testimony." — Springjleld  Re- 
publican. 

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THEW. By  C.  H.  SPURGEON.  With  Introductory 
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This  commentary  on  1lie  Gospel  according  to  Matthew  is 
the  latest  and  ripest  of  his  life's  labors.  It  will  he  found  a 
tree,  laden  with  rich  fruit;  and  evidencing  a  soil  singularly 
fertile,  :md  the  culture  which  bespeaks  a  divine  husbandman. 
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most  effective  popular  preacher  of  his  age.  Every  page  is, 
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the  expository  work  of  Spurgeon  to  our  readers :  they  all  know 
what  it  is.  But  for  their  information  we  may  explain  that 
text  by  text,  or  two  or  three  texts  taken  together,  the  Gospel 
is  gone  over  with  brief,  practical,  pungent,  and  very  spiritual 
comment,  rising  at  times  into  eloquence  such  as  Spurgeon  was 
master  of.  The  titles  of  the  various  sections  are  in  themselves 
illuminating,  giving  in  a  very  few  words  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  contents  of  the  section.  In  this  book  its  consecrated 
writer,  being  dead,  yet  speakelh  to  an  audience  larger,  we 
believe,  than  any  that  ever  heard  his  voice  in  life." — New  York 
Evangelist. 

"  This  is  a  work  in  Mr.  Spurgeou's  usual  style,  full  of  good 
thoughts  plainly  expressed.  The  idea  of  the  title  is  wrought 
into  every  part  of  the  book.  Every  section  has  something 
about  either  the  King  or  the  Kingdom.  The  work  is  topically 
arranged,  and  so  has  a  topical  table  of  contents,  such  as  the 
Pedigree  of  the  King,  The  Birth  of  the  King,  The  King  Ap- 
pearing, and  The  King  Assailed,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  its 
twenty-eight  sections ." — Church  Advocate. 

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